Page 23 - INDONESIAN ISLAMIC CULTURE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

clergy as the keepers of the faith, and the ruling elites, the umara. In this From the trajectory of the stories on the Islamization process it is apparent
regard it is understandable why Sultan Agung (1613-1646), the ruler of that the spread of Islam was actually local and started with a single point of
Mataram, was not satisfied just to carry the name and the title of Sultan “dismissal” and then moved on to places inhabited by other communities.
Abdul Muhammad Maulana Matarani of Mecca. He also deliberately These initially isolated local communities became the beachheads for
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called himself Sayiddin Kalifatullah Panatagama and with this title he was a temporary halt in the process of spreading Islam. Subsequently, the
not only a worldly king but also a “caliph” who governed religious life. But propagators departed from the “beach dismissal” each in his own style to
was he also not still recognized as the “husband” of Nyai Loro Kidul, the continue to share the received sacred messages. Either through the living
immortal queen of the southern ocean? In this way he wanted to base his oral tradition or in traditional historiography the “receiving areas” did not
integrated order on the “tradition of dialogue”. The “tradition of dialogue”, forget the services rendered to it by the “sending areas”. On the contrary,
which was derived from the dynamics of Islamization in an atmosphere of because political passion might come into play, the “source areas” usually
political competition, would at any time present itself. In this tradition we did not remember and did not even know that this had happened. The
can understand that Amangkurat I, the Mataram ruler who was reluctant services were not only forgotten when political power came into play. So it
to use the title of Sultan, preferred to call himself Susuhunan, did so was narrated that the twin kingdom of Goa-Tallo came to aid a prince from
because he was loath to continue the integrative efforts of his father, Bima to regain the throne his uncle had taken away from him. When these
Sultan Agung. As Rijklof van Goens reported, Amangkurat I just killed expectations were met, Goa-Tallo also sent religious scholars, who came
about two thousand scholars. He saw this group as a threat to his royal from Minangkabau, to deliver the message of Islam. 19
power. In fact, says Van Goens, so many got killed that after many days Since the fall of Majapahit (although local information says 1478, historical
many bodies had still not been buried. Amangkurat I’s political notion and records tends to place its fall in the early years of the 1520s), the extension
behavior show that the process of Islamization occurred in an atmosphere of Islamic territory did not only continue, it did so even more extensively. It
of political competition.
was extensive despite the fact that in 1511 Malacca, one of the world trade
Interesting is also the statement of Kyai Maja, a scholar and chief of a centers and the center of the spread of Islam, had fallen into the hands of
perdikan village who faithfully accompanied Pangeran Diponegoro. But the Portuguese, who acted in a spirit of vengeful “conquest”. After these
eventually he decided to leave the ranks of the resistance. He was forced to two political events in which two great powers had bent their knees, the
do this, he said, because he saw that the prince had made himself a “ratu” Nusantara world experienced an atmosphere of “stable instability”. Great
(lit. king), a ruler within the resistance group. Kyai Maja was still distrusted kingdoms constantly presented themselves and competed incessantly, while
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by the Dutch. Kyai Maja, his family and his followers were banished to the small power centers were too busy looking for ways to escape the dangers
Minahasa. Apparently the Dutch could not trust him, was not the ulama the posed by the major central powers. From a cultural point of view, however,
chief assistant of Prince Diponegoro the enemy of the Dutch. it appeared to be a time of flowing political power in which various literary
works were written and Islamic thinking and scholarship began to sail
“The tradition of dialogue” between rulers and scholars which almost always
oscillated between “romance” and “conflict” was trapped in the vicissitudes through cultural life and creative thinking.
of history. Sometimes the moments of intimate peace occurred but the trap IV
of the historical character of the “dialogue” was just too reluctant to resign.
In addition to their traditional social institutions, “the perdikan villages”, Examining the theological messages written on the inscription on Sultan
which were controlled by priests and later by ulama, the continuation of “the Malikus Saleh’s tombstone, it seems that the text simply conveys the
tradition of dialogue” was rooted also in the critical events at the beginning creatures’ recognition of their relationship with God. It also states implicitly
of the Islamization process. Historical memory did not forget the fact that the that from then on Pasai had become part of the “Muslim world”. But it seems
kingdom had been defeated and that “Islam had conquered the state”. After that the religious life that radiates from the tombstone’s text is as if it was left
all Majapahit lose its power because it had been defeated by the Islamic alone in isolation. Thence, the tombstone exudes a monologue.
sultanate of Demak. This historical source relates the story of the Sultan’s activities to expand
17. Ricklefs, Mystic Synthesis in Java, 51. 19. M. Hilir Ismail, Peran Kesultanan Bima dalam perjalanan Sejarah Nusantara, Mataram:
18. Peter Carey, “The Cultural Ecology of Early Nineteenth Century Java: Pangeran Lengge, 2004, also Henri Chambert-Loir & Siti Maryam R. Salahuddin, Bo’ Sangaji Kai:
Dipanagara, a case study”, Occasional Paper no.24. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, catatan Kerajaan Bima, Jakarta: École francaise d’Extrême Orient & Yayasan Obor Indonesia,
Singapore, 1974. 1999.

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