Signs from Allah: History, Science and Faith in Islam
58. Islam Moves East: The Introduction of Islam into Indonesia - Part 2 of 3
By Prof DrNazeer Ahmed, PhD
Concord, CA
Circa 1100, the Islamic world went through a profound transformation. Al Gazzali (d. 1111), through the force and eloquence of his writings, dealt a severe blow to the study of philosophy and gave tasawwuf a respectable place in Islamic learning.
Before 1100, Islamic civilization was extrovert and empirical, with a heavy emphasis on Shariah and Fiqh. After 1100, Islamic civilization turned inwards, focused more on the spirit than on philosophy and the physical sciences. Tasawwuf emerged as the dominant force in Islamic teachings. Major Sufi orders, which were to change the spiritual landscape of Asia and Africa, sprang up in Baghdad (Abdul QaderJeelani, d. 1166), Delhi (KhwajaMoeenuddin Chishti, d. 1236), Konya, Turkey (Jalaluddin Rumi, d. 1273) and Cairo (al Shadhuli, d. 1258). The content as well as the thrust of Islamic civilization changed. The Archipelago, like India, felt the impact of this transformation.
It was during the period 1100 to 1500 that Islam spread widely in Indonesia and Malaya. It was a spiritual Islam, focused more on the soul than on ritual, that found a home in the islands much as was the case in India. The spread of Islam in the Archipelago followed a geographical progression over a period of 400 years (1100 to 1500) starting with Sumatra, followed by Java, Malaya, Borneo, Sulu (Mindanao), Sulawesi and Luzon (Manila). Shaykh Abdullah Arif, a scholar from Arabia, introduced Islam into Sumatra around the year 1100. One of his disciples, Shaykh Burhan Shah, carried on dawah work throughout northern Sumatra. The first ruler of northern Sumatra to accept Islam was Johan Shah (1204), but it was during the reign of Sultan Malik al Saleh (d. 1297) that Islam received a major boost. Commercial contacts had introduced the faith to the coasts of Sumatra and Java as well as the western coast of Malaya and the eastern shores of Vietnam in the previous centuries. Sufi orders appeared and spread the faith throughout Sumatra during the 14th century. The city of Pasai became a center of learning. Ibn Batuta visited Pasai in 1345 and found its ruler, Sultan Malik al Zahir to be a pious man, a patron of scholars and an enthusiastic propagator of the faith. Malik al Zahir was a grandson of Malik al Saleh. In 1396, Parameswara, a prince from the Java, fled to Malacca. He married a daughter of the Sultan of Pasai, accepted Islam and changed his name to Sultan Iskander Shah (1406). It was this prince who introduced Islam into Malaya.
Pasai and Malacca became centers of tasawwuf, radiating their spiritual teachings to the interior areas. Malacca became the beacon of Islam for the region. The important commercial center of Kedah became Muslim by 1474. During this period-the 13th and 14th centuries-the Muslim world was reeling from Mongol and Tatar invasions. Many of the ulema, Sufi shaykhs and merchants fleeing this destruction found refuge in Delhi. As persecution of the Sufis increased at the court of Muhammed bin Tughlaq of Delhi (circa 1335), many of them migrated further east to the Archipelago. Tasawwuf had become so widespread in the Islamic world that many of the merchants and travelers themselves belonged to Sufi tareeqas. These migrations further stimulated religious scholarship in the islands and provided an impetus for the rise of great Sufi shaykhs among the Malays themselves. It was these shaykhs, sons of the soil, who spearheaded the propagation of the Islamic faith in their homeland.
In the 14th and 15th centuries, Java was the seat of the powerful Hindu kingdom of Majapahit, centered on the modern city of Jakarta. Agriculture and the spice trade were the mainstays of this kingdom. Majapahit dominated the island of Java and its commerce. Lesser rajas and local chiefs who controlled local ports paid tribute to the ruler of Majapahit. As commerce between the Archipelago and the Muslim world increased, many of these local rajas and chiefs found it more advantageous to forge closer ties with Muslim India and West Asia than with the Majapahit court. As political ties with the central political power weakened, a local power vacuum was created. Islam was the beneficiary of this political vacuum. One by one, the local rajas and chiefs accepted Islam. Conversion brought with it a sense of belonging to a larger international brotherhood as well as significant advantages in commerce and trade. In due time, the Majapahit court itself came under Islamic influence. By 1450, Islam was the dominant religion at the court.
In 1451, ShaykhRahmat, a sage who had made his center near the modern city of Surabaya, converted the Majapahit ruler, Raja Kertawijaya, to Islam. By 1475, Majapahit had changed its character to a Muslim sultanate, although the kingdom itself survived until 1515. Thus, the spread of Islam in Java was different from what is a norm in history, wherein the conversion of a powerful ruler as a powerful incentive for the subjects to follow suit. In the islands, it was the people who converted first, with the king following suit. Among the Sufi shaykhs most revered by Javanese in this transformation were ShaykhIshaq of Pasai, SunanBonang, SunanAmpel, SunanGiri, SunanDirijat and Khalifa Hussain.
Yet another element in the introduction of Islam was the issue of legitimacy of rule. Throughout history, there has been a strong current of opinion among Muslims that a ruler must be from the family of the Prophet. By the 14th century, when Islam had spread throughout Java and Sumatra, this belief in the legitimacy of rule by kinship with the Prophet was widely accepted by the Malay people. Consequently, the newly converted rulers sought marriage ties with the Sayyids and Sheriffs, who were Arab immigrants from Mecca and Madina. The progeny of these marriages could rightfully claim their lineage both from the ruling dynasties of the islands and the family of the Prophet. The kingdom of Majapahit was no exception to this longing for legitimacy. As more and more Javanese accepted Islam, the rulers of Majapahit had to bow to the will of the people, accept Islam and fulfill the requirements of legitimacy as accepted by the general population.
ShaykhAwliya Karim al Maqdum, who moved from Malacca to Mindanao in 1380, introduced Islam into the southern Philippines. His disciple Syed Abu Bakr carried on his work. In 1475, Sharif Muhammed Kabungsuan, moved from Malacca to Mindanao, where he worked tirelessly to introduce the faith. Further north, in the areas around the modern city of Manila, Sufi shaykhs carried on dawah (invitation to the faith) work. The Spanish forcibly converted these areas to Christianity when they conquered the Philippines (1564). The southern region of Sumatra was Islamized in the latter part of the 15th century. The islands of the Celebes and the western regions of New Guinea also embraced Islam around 1495 through the work of ShaykhPutah.
Islam spread like a beacon, carried from island to island, for almost four hundred years. Each time the inhabitants of an island accepted Islam, they themselves became the standard bearers of the new faith and worked hard to convert others. By the time the Portuguese and the Spanish arrived on the scene in the 16th century (1512 onwards), the entire Archipelago was either under the sway of Islam or on its way to becoming Muslim.
Islam is not just a dogma and a collection of rituals. It is a total worldview that embraces the intellect as well as the spirit. It is a paradigm shift that transforms individuals, societies and civilizations, reshaping their horizons and remolding them in a global framework. And so it was in the archipelago.
The introduction of tasawwuf into the Archipelago sparked intense intellectual activity among the Malays, much as it had done earlier in Central Asia, Persia, India, Egypt and North Africa. Debates and discussions on the spiritual aspects of tasawwuf produced some of the most sublime literature in the Malay language. Shaykh Hamza al Fansuri, who lived in Acheh (northern Sumatra) during the reign of Riyat Shah (1589-1604), is the best known of the Sufi poets of the era. The Malays were as intensely involved with discussions about Wahdat al Wajud (Unity of Existence) as was the rest of the Islamic world at that time. The greatest exponent of this school of tasawwuf in the Malay language was Nuruddin al Raniri (d. 1666) of the Qadariya order.
It was about this time that the Qur’an was translated into the Malay language by Shaykh Abdul Rauf al Sinkili (d. 1693) of the Shattaria order. It is also noteworthy that Acheh (northern Sumatra) produced a succession of four Muslim queens (1641-1699) starting with Sultana TajulAlamSafiyyatuddin Shah (1641-1675). These women monarchs ruled with distinction over most of the islands of Sumatra and parts of Java and brought pride and honor to the womanhood of Islam.
(The author is Director, World Organization for Resource Development and Education, Washington, DC; Director, American Institute of Islamic History and Culture, CA; Member, State Knowledge Commission, Bangalore; and Chairman, Delixus Group)
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