The Islam Nusantara Movement in Indonesia

Abstract

Indonesia is known as a country of socio-cultural diversity with approximately 300 ethnic groups (Kewarganegaraan n.d.).1 The spiritual life of Indonesians is also rather heterogeneous, as various religious traditions are deeply rooted in the fourth most populous nation in the world today (World Population Review 2020).2 Despite the fact that 87.2 per cent of the total population embraces the faith of Islam (Badan Pusat Statistik 2010), chronology shows that non-Islamic traditions were dominant in the Indonesian archipelago prior to the advent of Islam. The kings of a maritime empire called Srivijaya which flourished in southern Sumatra between the seventh and thirteenth centuries (Legge 1964: 5–6), for instance, adopted Buddhism and contributed to cultural interchanges among Southeast Asia, South Asia, and East Asia (Laffan 2011: 4). We also know that Borobudur, which is one of the oldest and largest single Buddhist monuments in the world, was built by the Sailendra Kingdom, which was dominant in Central Java in the eighth century (Laffan 2011: 28). Prambanan temples in Central Java were built by an ancient Hindu kingdom called Old Mataram in the tenth century, and the eastern island of Bali, a famous tourist destination today, is also known as the homeland of the Indonesian version of Hinduism. Apart from the organised religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, the local traditions and cultures have also profoundly exerted their influence over the spiritual life of Indonesians. This tendency is most noticeable in Java, which is the most populated island in the country. The customary traditions of Javanese cultures, including communal religious meals, traditional medicine, and the performance of aristocratic rituals in the residence of Sultan, are corelated with Islam (Woodward 2011: 5). Some argue that Islam in Indonesia is syncretic and is by no means monolithic. Clifford Geertz, for example, stated