Islam and Sufism in Java Island: A Historical Perspective

Muhammad Iqbal Birsyada, FKIP Universitas PGRI Yogyakarta (2023) Islam and Sufism in Java Island: A Historical Perspective. Universitas PGRI Yogyakarta.

Text Islam and Sufism in Java Island.pdf Download (14MB)

Abstract

To the recent time, Sufism still exists as a cultural aspect of Muslim society in Java. This owns a long historical process since the spread of Islam religion in the Indonesian Archipelago. Since the 7th century, Islam rose in Java carried out by the merchant classes from Arabic, but after the 13th century, the spreading of Islam was practiced by Gujarati traders. In Hindu-Buddhist tradition, the group belonged to the Vaishya caste class. The traders in the later development settled and then spread Islam, followed by the missionary interpreters from the Campa and the Middle East. The next phase of Islam began to develop rapidly in the 15th and 16th centuries, one of which was carried out by a group of community preachers or “the holy teacher” called WaliSongo (nine holy teachers). Their daily practices developed a pattern of Islamic preaching strategies by synthesizing Islamic Sharia with the local Javanese cultural values and traditions. Most of the Islamic missionary interpreters were followers of the tarekat. Tarekat is a method or a way for someone who believes in the Islamic teachings, which aims to reach God (wushul) through a series of long and hard stages, especially in terms of purification of the soul (tazkiyatunnafs). Tarekat followers had spiritual teachers

Actions (login required)

View Item