Page 16 - INDONESIAN ISLAMIC CULTURE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

So, enjoy the translation and the theological meaning of the inscription on for the right wind to continue their voyages it is possible that various things
the tombstone of Sultan Malikus-saleh (1297), the hero who had become the
king of Samudera Pasai (Aceh), the first Islamic kingdom:
“Indeed, the world is transitory. The world is not eternal. Indeed, the
world is like a spider’s nest. Verily for you this world is sufficient. Hi,
people looking for strength. Life is short. Everyone in the world will
certainly die.” 5
The tombstone seems to have come from Gujarat. Is it possible that Islam
entered Nusantara via northern India? A debate was started and many
scientists were in favor of the theory that Islam came to these islands from
Gujarat. However, during the time of Sultan Malikus Saleh, Gujarat cannot
be regarded as a region with many Muslims. Scholars who doubted that
Islam came from Gujarat said that it was more likely that the spreaders of
Islam came to these islands from the Coromandel coast and Malabar. Can
this reconstruction of history be accepted? An Indian scientist, moreover,
saw the possibility of Bengal as the source of the spread of Islam to the
archipelago.
But what if the maritime trade stemmed from the Persian Gulf? In that
case, it is very likely that Islam propagated its existential meaning in this
archipelago directly from Arabia. But based on what evidence? Considering
the centuries-old maritime trade between the Persian Gulf and the coast of
China one might wonder if China was the origin of the arrival of Islam to this
archipelago. According to this controversial argument, did some of the “wali
sanga” (nine saints), actually come from China?
Scholars continue to argue in order to arrive at the historical truth. Only
some years ago Drewes, a prominent philologist who wrote about a variety
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of texts on Islam in Java, vented his skepticism about the possibility of there
being only one single solution to this issue. If Islamization is defined as the
third phase in the process of the beginning of a deliberate spread of Islam,
then the growth of political power should also be taken into account.
Thus, the start of the sophisticated debates Anthony Johns initiated
seemed to lose their initial spirit. It is not debated any longer whether the
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propagators were traders who earned their living while taking the time to
convey the “divine message”, as often asserted. Or is it, as Johns stressed,
that this proselytizing was due to members of Sufi Orders who actively
traveled around to introduce the scripture. When the traders were waiting
5. T. Ibrahim Alfian, Kontribusi Samudra Pasai terhadap Studi Islam Awal Asia Tenggara,
Yogyakarta: Ceninnetss Press, 2002. This inscription quotes Q.S. a-Rahman (55) and Q.S.
al-Aniya (21).
6. G.W.J. Drewes, “New Light on the coming of Islam to Indonesia?”, B.K.I.,124, 4, 433-459.
7. Anthony H. Johns, “Tentang Kaum Mistik dalam penulisan sejarah Islam” in Taufik Abdullah
(ed.) Sejarah dan Masyarakat: Lintasan Historis Islam di Indonesia. Jakarta: Pustaka Firdaus,
1987.
6 Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives
may have happened and, like in the case of Ibn Battuta, wandering religious
scholars may have been a normal phenomenon? Moreover, if scholars had
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listened to the stories recorded in all kinds of traditional historiographies,
they may have come to the conclusion that the different historical events
they contain are illustrations of regional differences.
III
The scholarly debate about the arrival of Islam in the archipelago is part of
the efforts of scholars to explain the origins of socio-cultural realities and
the impact of Islam’s presence in all areas of life. When the development
and spread of Islam was further explained, various unusual additional
explanations were also put forward. It was said that Islam spread since the
th
16 century when several power centers had embraced this religion and that
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it was related to what Schrieke said was a “race with Christianity”. Meant
to address a different historical fact but similar in tone, this is also what van
Leur commented about the deep level of the Islamization process in Java.
This Islamization process, he said, just hit the awareness of the upper layer
of the Javanese community. So for him Islam in Java was only a thin outer
cultural layer and Islam was thus not an essential element of the basic
structure of the cultural awareness of the Javanese. But, is this historical
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reality, and, also sociologically, true?
We should realize that the objective reading of historical sources is often
biased by theoretical assumptions, usually inseparable from cultural
presumptions, and often even by a combination of both. The problem is
compounded when cultural and theoretical assumptions are reinforced by
colonial political interests. Starting from the three modes of presumption
of what is called the usually colonial policy was formulated. But never
mind. With or without the three modes of presumption that might be felt
subversive the usual historical sources also threw various possibilities of
reconstruction-- like the actual problem of origins before being coiled by
various shades of historical dynamics. If so, it may be said that the case of
Samudra-Pasai is unique as well.
The impressions we get from reading the memories of Marco Polo and Ibn
Battuta about Samudera-Pasai are strengthened by oral stories recorded
in two written texts – the Hikayat Raja-Raja Pasai and the Sejarah Melayu
(or Sulalatus Salatin). Although the Hikayat Raja-Raja Pasai tells that even
though Pasai had been defeated by the Hindu Kingdom Majapahit in East
8. Taufik Abdullah, “Kata Pengantar”, in Ross E. Dunn, Petualangan Ibnu Battuta: Seorang
Musafir Muslim Abad 14”, Jakarta: Yayasan Obor, 1995, xiii-xxi.
9. B.O.J. Schrieke, Indonesian Sociological Studies, vol. II. Bandung/The Hague: W. van
Hoeve, 1955.
10. J.C. van Leur, Indonesian Trade and Society, Bandung/The Hague: W. van Hoeve, 1955.
Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives 7