Page 27 - INDONESIAN ISLAMIC CULTURE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

theological issue, the questions came up what power system should be Saghir, a cleric who preferred to preach in an atmosphere of peace. It was
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adopted to regulate social life and whether the political system and the on the basis of the principle saying “People who do not pray and who refuse
kingdom were in line with Islamic teachings? A good look at history was in to practice the Qur’an carefully lose the right to life and to their property,
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order. The fall of Malacca had provided opportunities to Aceh Darussalam according to the sacred books of fiqh.” In 1821, the Dutch intervened and
and other Islamic power centers, but as al-Raniri narrated in his work the Padri War (the second stage) ended in 1837 and Minangkabau land fell
Bustanus Salatin, the sultanate experienced political stability and prosperity into the hands of the Dutch. But, while this matrilineal ethnic group started
under the reign of Sultan Iskandar Muda. to formulate its identity --”Adat bersendi syarak. Syarak bersendi kitabullah”
(Traditions hinges on the Sharia, and the Sharia hinges on the Scripture
Could Iskandar Muda and his successors have learned from a text that of God), the legends began to generate their Islamic spirited traditional
contained a theory on the state that had been generated before he history. The cultural and historical reasons why the Minangkabau remained
ascended the throne? A few years before the Sultan came into powers in its matrilineal kinship system, whereas the Islamic inheritance system is
1602, Bukhari al-Jauhari had introduced the Tajus-Salatin, which may be patrilineal were also formulated. Since the mid-19 century many debates
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regarded as the first text on political theory in the Malay world. This text not took place in Minangkabau about mystical orders, while the process towards
only adopted the concept and attitude of justice as the foundation of ethics religious orthodoxy accelerated as well. At the beginning of the 20 century,
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and the wisdom of power but also saw it as a political strategy. The wisdom the Minangkabau had replaced Palembang and Penyengat Island (Riau) as
that sparks from the Malay text caused it to have been repeatedly translated the center of religious thought. “Islamic modernism”, which was near to the
into Javanese. Moreover, history noted also that the Tajus Salatin was the “kaum muda” (lit. young people) movement aspired to become more and
favorite reading of Mangkubumi (Hamengkubuwono I) and Diponegoro. It more involved in the “developed world” as well.
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is thus interesting to learn that in the mid-19 century, Abdullah Abdul Kadir Indeed, since the end of the 18 and especially in the beginning of the 19
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Munsyi, commonly considered a “barrier figure” between traditional Malay century when the penetration of foreign power had become increasingly
and “modern” Indonesian literature, said that the weakness of the Malay widespread, religious thinking accelerated. The total number of Indonesian
sultans (in the Peninsula) was the fact they had no longer understood the pilgrims and Muslims who even resided in the Holy Land increased as
Tajus Salatin’s messages. well. The number of Muslims connected in networks of teachers and
That was towards the end of the 18 century. At the start of the 19 century students and religious scholars in the centers of Islamic studies also
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tens or even hundreds of Islamic manuscripts in Malay, Javanese and other rose, as was the number of surau, meunasa, pesantren and madrasah
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languages in the archipelago were written. Different schools and religious in the country. Since the late 18 century and especially the 19 century
thinking tendencies were introduced. In this atmosphere debates were Palembang presented itself as one of the centers of Islamic thinking
common even severe ones especially when they focused on the relationship together with Patani in the Malay peninsula, now part of Thailand. Sultan
between God and His creatures. The manuscript known as keropak Ferrara Badaruddin II of Palembang was not only a very anti-Dutch king but
also a poet and thinker. Residing in Arabia and usually writing in Arabic,
(17 century), because it is stored in the library of Ferrara in Italy, shows a Sheikh al-Palimbani sent his Islamic thoughts to his homeland. In the Aceh
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“fundamentalist” tendency, but the Serat Dharmagandul (20 century) which War (1872-1904), Aceh, which saw itself as the “veranda of Mecca”, still
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is not “fundamentalist” at all. So, we may understand also why the integrity managed to generate a story about the holy war, but no longer written in
of the Islamic community is problematic. Malay but in the Acehnese language. Towards the end of the 19 century,
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It is not strange that the so-called ‘fundamentalist’ tendency showed its most Penyengat Island (Riau) also came up as a center for the production of
radical form in Minangkabau in the early of the 19 century during what is Islamic manuscripts. One might even say that in Penyengat, the palace of
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called the first phase of the “Padri War” (1803-1821). It was told that at that the Raja Muda of the Sultanate of Johor-Riau had become the “capital” of
time the supporters of this movement had launched an action of war that 27. Sjech Djilal-eddin, Verhaal van de aanvang der Padri onlusten op Sumatra, ed. Dr. J.J. de
was no longer a “war of throwing stones” at the village borders. A war of Hollander, Leiden, 1837.
conquest had broken out. “So it was called sabilillah, (lit. the way of God to 28. S.A. Steyn Parve’, “Kaum Padari (Padri) di Padang Darat Pulau Sumatra” (1885) its
translation in Taufik Abdullah (ed.) Sejarah Lokal di Indonesia, Yogyakarta: UGM University
denote the Holy War), so that its legal status was clearly valid,” wrote Faqih Press, 1985.
26. Taufik Abdullah, “ The Formation of a Political Tradition in the Malay World”, in Anthony 29. Taufik Abdullah, “Modernization in the Minangkabau World: West Sumatra in the Early
Reid (ed.), The Making of an Islamic Political Discourse in Southeast Asia, Clayton, Victoria: Decades of the Twentieth Century” in Claire Holt et al. (editors), Ithaca and London: Cornell
Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University, 1993, 35-58. University Press, 1972, 179-245.

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