Religion and Ritual Tradition in Java

Javanese Muslim Tahlilan Ritual:

Syncretism, Symbolic Communication and Honor in Islamic Tradition

Introduction
When Islam was firstly introduced to Java, some belief systems had already existed there such as animism, Buddhism and Hinduism. Instead of total rejection, Muslim preachers sought to adopt certain elements of these faiths and finally convert them. To some extent, this process does not remove entire local beliefs and consequently results in religious syncretism and convergence which can be seen as the best example in the ritual tradition called slametan. Basically slametan is a communal religious ritual with various offerings of foods served to its participants and, to a certain degree, the dead and ancestors’ spirit, especially in the areas where syncretism is deeply penetrated. It thus represents a complex interplay between religion, culture and local beliefs. Nevertheless, this ritual has invariably been performed by both abangan (nominal Muslims) and santri (devout Muslims) in Java, especially Muslim traditionalists living in rural areas. With this ritual, Javanese Muslims hope to gain a state of well-being for their transitional life cycles, such as for birthday (sepasaran), wedding (mantenan) and death (tahlilan). This ritual tradition is widely spread in Java and has been preserved for many years and through generations.

Slametan has become an object of inquiry among scholars. On one hand, some argue that slametan is a core of Javanese religion greatly influenced by a set of intertwined belief from animism, Hindu-Buddha and Javanese mysticism. On the other hand, others maintain that slametan contains a fundamental element of the Islamic doctrine as it can be seen from the recitation of certain Arabic passages derived mainly from the Qur’an during the course of this ritual. While the former applies a contextual approach to slametan revealing a social context of its meaning and practice, the latter employs a textual analysis to underline the normative basis for it. Another approach combines both textual and contextual analysis arguing that this ritual is a sort of syncretism that contains components of both Hindu-Javanese and Islamic doctrines. Since these approaches are employed to examine all sorts of slametan, they tend to offer a general description and consequently draw less attention to a specific performance of each slametan ritual. Despite a common intention to invoke a state of well-being, slametan is a broad term for practices covering the whole ranges of Javanese communal religious ritual feast. It, however, in fact varies. Each slametan has a specific purpose, performance, timing, and ornament indicating distinctiveness, richness and depth of each rite. It is not a static ritual tradition and has considerably changed over times. It therefore needs a more detail exposition for respective ritual.

This study does not however intend to achieve such a broad goal, but is rather aimed to especially focus on a specific slametan ritual which is devoted to the dead called tahlilan. There has been a dissenting opinion about tahlilan among Muslims. Within Muslim communities, neither modernists nor far right fundamentalists reckon it as Islamic warning that this ritual is a part of superstition and innovation which are not sanctioned by the authoritative Islamic scriptural texts nor by the prophetic tradition. Fanatic and ultra Javanese believers, like kejawen (Javanism) and kebatinan (Javanese mysticism), also do not practice it, as they commonly repudiate any ritual which contains Islamic elements. Besides, tahlilan constitutes enduring, complicated and most sacred ritual. However, since this ritual is admitted as being valid by santri and abangan then there should be Islamic and Javanese elements in it. This paper thus explores the elements of local beliefs and Islamic teachings in this living ritual tradition and demonstrates that both abangan and santri find a common denominator in it, a significant point which is hardly explored in previous studies.

The main question that will be answered in this paper is what constitutes a very basic idea of Javanese values and Islamic teachings that can be drawn from tahlilan ritual? Why do abangan and traditionalist santri who in many ways have different religious and cultural orientations attempt to preserve the same ritual tradition? This study supports previous finding stating that the elements of local beliefs and Islamic teachings are present in this ritual. So it is syncretistic in nature. In addition, this study specifically argues that the idea of honoring predecessors and maintaining an uninterrupted communication between the alive that is descendents and the dead namely the deceased predecessors and the late parents constitute a common denominator for both santri and abangan. In regard to tahlilan ritual, it is important to note santri’s variants and clearly distinguish them. They are two categories of santri: traditionalists who practice this ritual and modernists who do not. Throughout this study, the term santri refer to traditionalist Javanese Muslims, unless otherwise indicated. Although it is now debatable, the traditional santri category is best represented by the largest Muslim organization Nahdhatul Ulama. Meanwhile Muhammadiyah, Persatuan Islam (Persis) and salafi Muslim organizations are often claimed to have a modern religious orientation and puritan agenda.

I structure this study as follows. The first part discusses the debates around the variants of Javanese religion. This part discusses historical background of the rise of Javanese religiosity into abangan and santri category and explains the reasons for such a division The next part explores differences of slametan ritual between abangan and santri; how and in which ways they differ and how this ritual in general undergoes discernible changes over times. Popular traditions of each group will in a smaller portion also be presented to make a sense of their distinctive religious cultural orientation. Special attention will be given in the last part to examine tahlilan ritual.

Conclusion
Tahlilan, as one variant of slametan ritual tradition in Java, constitutes a common religious ritual for abangan and santri Javanese Muslims and is syncretistic in nature. Its exterior elements have been adopted from the old Javanese beliefs, while its interior essence is obviously Islamic. While syncretism of this ritual amongst abangan is mostly concerned with food offerings to the spirits and with burning incense, the same phenomenon is hardly found in santri’s ritual. However, santri does not totally remove the elements of old traditions as long as they are in principle not contrary to the fundamental confession. Santri is therefore willing to adopt the time pattern of this ritual which has no legal sanction from the scriptural texts. The text neither enjoins nor prohibits the time and date of the consummation of this ritual. The different performance and intentions of this ritual amongst abangan and santri are logical consequences from a long process of Islamization in Java. The division of the Muslim religiosity into the two poles goes back to the times of the Mataram Islamic Kingdom after the downfall of the last Javanese Hindu Majapahit Kingdom in the sixtieth century. The rulers of Mataram accepted Islam while maintaining previous Javanese-Hindu traditions. The polarization also stems from the cultural approach of Islamization in Java adopted by the nine saints whose method of preaching Islam entailed acculturation and convergence with indigenous aspects. As a result, that process inevitably creates syncretistic religious practices as it is evident from tahlilan ritual.

Although abangan and santri in some ways display their own respective distinctive religious propensity and cultural predilection, they have sought to preserve tahlilan ritual tradition because they find a common ground to perform it. This basic idea lies on congruous commonality in Islam and Javanese norms regarding paying respect and honor to ancestors and the late parents. This good relationship should remain strong for the whole life and should be symbolically communicated beyond the grave. To Javanese Muslims, the death is not the end of history since they believe the life after death. The deceased is physically separated from his/her family and living community, but socially still belongs to the society. In this respect, the deceased is still alive in an imaginary world and therefore symbolic communication should be maintained through various means. Sending prayer and offering food, which constitute a core of tahlilan ritual, thus means a medium through which respect and honor as well as symbolic communication between the alive and the dead amongst Javanese Muslims are well preserved.

[Research paper on “Religion in South Asia”, Emory University, Spring 2008]