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to one expert was a “single society”
130 Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives
tartib, the traditional provision, allowed, central palace in order to solve the a religious leader--- is understandable.
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---although not a “single culture”, was the Sultan would always be facing a problem of political legitimacy and in He was known as Sultan Agung, and
determined by its genealogical bonds lawsuit. Nevertheless, the lawsuit was order to maintain continuity. Without he had earned the title of Sultan after
with these first kings. Without this bond, never directed at the “sanctity of the this legitimacy and continuity, the new he Islamized various social institutions
no datu or regional head, and especially sultanate institution”.It is here, Majul central palace would only be able to including marriage. He was not only
no sultan, would have been recognized. said, “that the awareness of Muslims depend on its military and economic the ruler of the world, but also the
This means that he is the proof of tarsila is found, who tend to feel the need of power. However, this would boil down panatagama, the protector and regulator
and that he was the descendant of the having a sultan”. In other words, a datu of religion. 33
Prophet ---his title sayyid or sharif (from would never challenge the Sultan’s to having become a small but more The Javanese tradition increasingly
the lineage of Hasan or Hussein) was a position of supreme religious leader. powerful minor palace rather than the displayed the form it had taken after the
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requirement. Indeed, Malay, traditional political new central palace. Therefore, not political hegemony of Java shifted from
Although Sulu (compared with thinking not only cursed disobedience only a political myth should be given its coastal Demak, to the hinterland ---first
Maguindanao and Maranao with its towards the sovereign, it also precluded place in the changing situation, as far as to Pajang and finally to Mataram. An
many centers) had reached the highest a situation where there would be no king possible, old structural arrangements important consequence of this move
level of unification, its political system at all, something unimaginable situation and the social and cultural lifestyle of the power center to the interior was
allowed for the possibility of competition in this tradition. 32 of the ancient regime also had to be the separation of the three major social
for the position of Sultan. When Thus, the tradition of integration was maintained. The old concept that power institutions that used to support Demak
recognized as Sultan and thus as “God’s based on the cultural recognition was something that descended on the and the other coastal principalities.
Caliph on earth”, the institution of ruma that power was the ideological basis elected person, should remain in force. These three institutions were the palace
bicara (consisting of the influential datu, as determined by Islam. Although This power concept gave the new palace as the center of power, the market as
the crown prince and the dignitaries structurally power was divided into ruler his legitimate basis and formed the center of commerce and the boarding
of the kingdom) prevented him from traditional and religious, both were ideological basis for the monopoly of school as center of religion. In the
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becoming a tyrant and his political integrated in the king who was the power. The ruler might not have fallen process of establishing itself as the
authority was not infrequently quetioned commander of the faithful, i.e. the Muslim from the sky, such as the descendants owner of the newly established political
by the datus, the local aristocracy. Each leader (amirul mukminin). hegemony, Mataram, which was an
time a datu thought the Sultan had of the to Manurung in South Sulawesi, agricultural stage, militarily conquered
overstepped his sovereign prerogatives A different style of tradition developed in but light (teja and wahyu cakraningrat) the dynamic trading centers in the
in politics and the economy or when he Java. In its concentric political system, had descended onto him. With this he coastal regions one by one. All this
felt that it had gone beyond what the It required the establishment of a new was destined to be the center of the occurred at a time when the VOC already
30. Melvin Mednick, “Some problems of Moro 31. Majul, Muslims in the Philippines, p. 317-337. universe and the source of power. Within had commercial and political interests in
History and Political Organization” quoted by Peter 104. this framework, the King of Mataram’s
G. Cowing, Muslim Filipinos Heritage and Horizon, 32. See A.C. Milner, Kerajaan: Malay Political choice in 1624 of the title Susuhunan 33. H.J. de Graaf, Puncak Kekuasaan Mataram
Quezon City: 1979: New Day Publishers, 1979, p. Culture on the Eve of Colonial Rule, Tucson: The (translation), Jakarta: Grafitti Press, 1985.
45-46. University of Arizona Press, 1982, p. 94-111. ---a title commonly used by a saint or 34. Abdullah, Islam dan Masyarakat, pp. 110-158.
Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives 131