Modern Trends in Islamic Theological Discourse in 20th Century Indonesia: A Critical Study

358 Pages·2001·2.087 MB·English

by  Fauzan Saleh

MODERN TRENDS IN
ISLAMIC
THEOLOGICAL
DISCOURSE IN 20TH
CENTURY INDONESIA:
A Critical Survey
Fauzan Saleh
BRILL
SEPSME.Saleh.79.vw.b 31-08-2001 12:12 Pagina 1
MODERN TRENDS IN ISLAMIC THEOLOGICAL DISCOURSE
IN 20TH CENTURY INDONESIA
SEPSME.Saleh.79.vw.b 31-08-2001 12:12 Pagina 2
SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL
STUDIES OF
THE MIDDLE EAST AND ASIA
(S.E.P.S.M.E.A.)
(Founding editor:C.A.O. van Nieuwenhuijze)
Editor
REINHARD SCHULZE
Advisory Board
Dale Eickelman (Dartmouth College)
Roger Owen (Harvard University)
Judith Tucker (Georgetown University)
Yann Richard (Sorbonne Nouvelle)
VOLUME 79
SEPSME.Saleh.79.vw.b 31-08-2001 12:12 Pagina 3
MODERN TRENDS IN ISLAMIC
THEOLOGICAL DISCOURSE
IN 20TH CENTURY INDONESIA
A Critical Survey
BY
FAUZAN SALEH
BRILL
LEIDEN •BOSTON •KÖLN
2001
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Saleh, Fauzan.
Modern trends in Islamic theological discourse in 20th century Indonesia: a
critical study / by Fauzan Saleh.
p. cm. — (Social, economic, and political studies of the Middle East,
ISSN 1385-3376 ; v. 79).
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 9004123059 (alk. paper)
1. Islam—Indonesia—History—20th century. 2. Islam and state—Indonesia.
3. Islamic renewal—Indonesia. I. Title. II. Series.
BP63.15 S295 2001
297.2’09598’0904—dc21 2001035975
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme
Saleh, Fauzan :
Modern trends in Islamic theological discourse in 20th century Indonesia / by
Fauzan Saleh. – Leiden ; Boston ; Köln : Brill, 2001
(Social, economic, and political studies of the Middle East and Asia
; Vol 79)
ISBN 90-04-12305-9
ISSN 1385-3376
ISBN 90 04 12305 9
© Copyright 2001 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written
permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal
use is granted by Brill provided that
the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright
Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910
Danvers MA 01923, USA.
Fees are subject to change.
printed in the netherlands
contents v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Notes on Transliteration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Preface (by Prof. H.M. Federspiel) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter I. Islam in Indonesia Prior to the Advance of the
Reform Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
A. General Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
B. The Attitude toward “Pure” Islamic Religious Belief
and Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
C. The Dutch Authorities and the Spread of Islam . . . . 29
D. Retrospective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Chapter II. Redefining Islamic Orthodoxy in the Indonesian
Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
A. Islamic Orthodoxy: An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
B. Sunnism as Orthodox Islam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
C. Orthodox Islam in Indonesia: Attachment to Sunnism 67
D. The Muhammadiyah and the Ahl al-Sunnah . . . . . . . 75
E. NU and Muhammadiyah: Some Mutual Criticisms 85
F. The Ahl al-Sunnah: Another Perspective. . . . . . . . . . . 91
G. Islamic Orthodoxy in Indonesia: Santri versus
Abangan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Chapter III. Reconstructing a Theological Discourse:
The Reformist Attempts to Sustain Orthodox Beliefs. . . . . . 105
A. The Pillars of Belief in the Muhammadiyah . . . . . . . . 109
B. K.H. Mas Mansoer: Purifying Muslims’ Belief . . . . . . 120
C. Persatuan Islam: The Fundamental Beliefs . . . . . . . . . 136
D. The Belief in al-Qa·§" and al-Qadar: A New
Development. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
E. The Social Dimension of TawÈÊd: A Further
Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

´ ´
Voorw.ind 5 08/29/01, 12:42 PM
vi contents
Chapter IV. The Current Islamic Theological
Discourse: Mu#tazilism and Neo-Modernism. . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
A. Harun Nasution: Toward Islamic Rationalism. . . . . . . 197
1. Nasution’s Academic Stature and Theological
Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
2. Nasution’s Presentation of Mu#tazilism . . . . . . . . . . . 208
3. Mu#in and Hanafi on Mu#tazilism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
4. Retrospective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
B. Nurcholish Madjid: Cultural Islam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
1. His Cultural and Scholarly Background . . . . . . . . . . 240
2. To Put Islam in an Agreeable Position. . . . . . . . . . . 248
3. Indonesian Islam and the Idea of Egalitarianism
and Pluralism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
4. Islamic Pluralism and Modern Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Voorw.ind 6 08/29/01, 12:42 PM
contents vii
NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION

The system of Arabic transliteration used in this work follows that of
the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University. Indonesian terms
are written according to the Ejaan Baru Bahasa Indonesia (1972), except
personal names and titles of books or articles, which are rendered
according to the original spellings (see below). Likewise, all Arabic
words that have been adopted into Indonesian will be written accord-
ing to Indonesian spelling, without indicating their Arabic dia-
critical signs, such as Muhammadiyah, instead of MuÈammadÊyah;
Majlis Tarjih, instead of Majlis al-TarjÊÈ, and al-Irsyad instead of
al-Irsh§d.
However, the t§" marbåãah (ý) is transliterated as “ah” form, and
“at” in conjunction form; such as al-#ib§dah and al-ÈanÊfiyat al-samÈah.
Indonesian words indicating personal names or titles of books and
articles that originate from the works before the 1972 Indonesian
spelling system will be retained as they are. The main difference
between the old and new Indonesian spelling systems can be seen
as listed below:
Old Spelling New Spelling
ch (Churafat) kh (Khurafat)
dj (Madjlis) j (Majlis)
j (Jajasan) y (Yayasan)
nj (-nja) ny (-nya)
sj (Masjumi) sy (Masyumi)
tj (Ketjil) c (Kecil)
Voorw.ind 7 08/29/01, 12:42 PM
This page intentionally left blank
contents ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work is originally a Ph.D. dissertation submitted to the Institute
of Islamic Studies, McGill University, Montreal, 2000. For their
assistance and help throughout the accomplishment of this work, I
am greatly indebted to a large number of people and institutions.
Thanks are due, first of all, to the Canadian International Develop-
ment Agency (CIDA) for the award of a fellowship to pursue my
doctoral studies at the Institute of Islamic Studies. Special thanks are
also due to Prof. Howard M. Federspiel and Prof. Eric Ormsby, who
have given me invaluable support and encouragement, and in many
different ways have been helpful in improving the overall organiza-
tion of this study and in clarifying my ideas. Prof. Federspiel has
been generous by providing me with some important materials not
accessible to me. But, still more importantly, he is the one who has
opened my eyes to Indonesian Islam as an interesting subject of
inquiry from Western academic insights. The publication of this
work is made possible only due to his prudent suggestion. Prof. Eric
Ormsby, who has been my academic advisor during my sojourn
in Montreal, deserves special thanks for his patience, sincerity and
inspiring advice throughout my graduate study at McGill University
(1990-1992, 1995-2000). My sincere thanks also go to Prof. Sheila
McDonough of Concordia University, who has shared her inspiring
ideas with me on orthodoxy, both in Islam and beyond. I wish also
to express my hearty thanks to Prof. Daniel S. Lev of Washington
University at Seattle for allowing me to share his thoughtful insights
on Indonesian Islam.
It is a real pleasure on my part to acknowledge my indebtedness to
Prof. A. Uner Turgay, the director of the Institute of Islamic Studies,
and all the staff members, for their unceasing support, which played
a great role in enabling me to complete my Ph.D. program. I wish to
acknowledge my great intellectual debt to all professors at the Institute
who have contributed enormously in shaping my academic aptitude
in Islamic studies. It is also a great joy to express my gratitude to
all staffs at the Institute’s library, for their friendliness in helping me
find materials I needed in completing my work. Ms. Salwa Ferahian
deserves particular thanks for her generosity in providing me with
Voorw.ind 9 08/29/01, 12:42 PM