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education, Aa Gym isalso called the
278 Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives
Jakarta or in other major cities. Some that the practice of these invocation on two pillars, namely puritanism and
“Manager of Qalbu”. can be mentioned here such as the rituals is a means of bringing about a rationalism. Reformists think that the
Majelis Dzikir “Nurul Musthofa” and peaceful mind, controlling the self from cause of the stagnation of Muslims’moral
Not only ordinary people
performcongregated invocations and various other invocation assemblies disobedience, refraining from falling into and spiritual life during medieval times
supplications led by a cleric or a religious under the guidance of descendants of the falsehood and the “illusion” of worldly was their deviation from the norms set by
scholar, but also the number one figure of the Prophet (habib) in Jakarta, like the splendor, which always tempt the people the Qur’an and the Sunnah. The solution
the Republic of Indonesia, President Susilo “Majelis Rasulullah” (the Assembly of the in urban societies. was to return to the purity of Islam by
Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY). He is not a Messenger of Allah) led by the late Habib Religious training and practices with way of returning to the Qur’an and the
cleric or a religious scholar, but he set up a Mundzir al-Musawa that had more than particular emphases on this kind of Sunnah. They rejected everything that
congregated invocation group like the ones 10,000 members. spirituality seem to have become was not guided by the two main sources
mentioned above. In 2004, when he stated The most fundamental activity of the increasingly popular among urban and regarded it as heretical; while
anything that accords with these main
his intention to run for the presidency invocation assemblies is spiritual communities, at least over the last sources is called sunnah. In accordance
for the first direct presidential election training by means of invocations and the fifteen years. Observers of religious life with a sound hadith, innovation is
in Indonesia, he founded an invocation remembrance of Allah as the Creator commonly call this phenomenon “urban misguided, and the perverted are to be
group with a number of clerics among his (al-Khaliq), the Omnipotent, the One, Sufism”. It is a form of spiritual discourse put in hell. They were very rigid with their
1
supporters and it was named the Majelis and all the other attributes of Allah by among several classes of followers but slogan back to the Qur’an and Sunnah,
Dhikr SBY “Nurussalam” (Nurussalam way of reciting a good utterance (kalimah dominated by the upper middle classas so they considered innovations not only
Invocation Assembly of SBY). tayyiba) such as la ilaha illa Allah it costs quite a lot of money. Sufism in as distorted, and therefore hostile, but
meaning “no god but Allah”, Subhanallah
The above mentioned invocation walhamdulillah wa la ilaha illa Allah urban society has its own functions and also ignored old innovative intellectual
groups are just some examples. Many wallahu akbar (Glory be to Allah, all is both a form of social control as well legacies. The religious purification
other invocation groups are located in as a place where those who perform movement through Wahhabism that
praise be to Allah, there is no god but
1. This invocation assembly was started by a group Allah, and He is the Almighty), as well mystical vocations can bring about a emerged in the Arabian Peninsula
to pray for the safety of Mr. Yudhoyono and Mrs. peaceful mind and have many other was oriented to political power and
Ani Yudhoyono at their home in Cikeas when they as other good utterances. These fine positive benefits. Sufism offers a wide managed to give birth to a new country
were about to perform the pilgrimage in 2000. In utterances are recited uncountable times
2004, when SBY officially run forthe presidency as a way to subjugate the soul and the range of forms of and methods for called Saudi Arabia, but this kind of
in the 2004 presidential elections, this invocation spiritual enlightenment amidst urban life movement in other Islamic regions runs
assembly was declared officially underthe name innermost heart only to the meanings of that is overloaded with a large variety of in accordance with local conditions and
Nurussalam and it became part of the people’s these utterances, as well as by intimate
mobilization in the presidential campaign. conversations with God (munajat), psychic pathology. understanding expanded by Western
Activities and members quickly multipliedand rationalist traditions.
spread out. Until now branches of the Nurussalam exposing the soul to Allah, the One and
dhikr assembly have been established in all the Almighty, the Possessor of Power over Conclusion Indonesia is obviously different from
provinces of Indonesia. See http://www.inilah.com/
berita/politik/2010/01/01/254391/inilah-majelis- everything, including the power to cure From the above we may conclude Saudi Arabia. The reform movement
dzikir-sby-si-gurita-cikeas-1/ diseases, etc. The participants believe that the modernization of Islam rests in Egypt was also different from that of
Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives 279