National

Islam Nusantara genealogically inspired by the late KH Abdurrahman Wahid

Sab, 20 Januari 2018 | 21:16 WIB

Malang, NU Online
The idea of Islam Nusantara is genealogically inspired by the late KH Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) through the so-called pribimusasi Islam (the indigenization of Islam) in the second half of the 80s.

"In the "indigenization of Islam", it could be seen how Islam as a divine normative doctrine could be accommodated into any cultural spaces without losing its identity." KH M. Tholhah Hasan told NU Online recently.

According to the former Minister of Religious Affairs, both the arabization and the process to identify ourselves with Middle Eastern cultures are a proof that "we have been deprived of our own cultural roots."

Furthermore, The Arabization is necessarily not in line with the needs. The indigenization is not as an attempt to avoid the emergence of resistance from the forces of local cultures, but instead the culture is not lost.

Kiai Tholhah said, the core of indigenization of Islam was not to do with a polarization between religion and culture and had actually taken the spirit taught by Walisongo in their dakwa (propagation) in the archipelago around the 15th century and the 16th in Java.

"In this context, Walisongo could successfully incorporate local values in the teachings of Islam that are typical Indonesian. There is no reason that the arabization process is inherent in the spread of Islam in the archipelago. It is of course different from that in the next period, namely the 17th century through such prominent ulema as Abdurrauf Sinkili and Muhammad Yusuf al-Makassari that based their lines of thought more on the purification in the renewal of Islam."

He was of the opinion that Walisongo could precisely accommodate Islam as a religious teaching through historical processes along with local cultures.

"For example, what is done by Sunan Bonang by changing the Javanese gamelan that was in the time condensed with Hindu aesthetics by encouraging a love of transcendental life," he said, adding that the song "Tombo Ati" was one of his works. Even, in the puppet show, Sunan Bonang changed its characters and inserted Islam nuanced interpretations in it. (Masdar)