Religion and Ritual in Diaspora

Halal bi Halal: The Indonesian Muslim Community Celebration of Ied al-Fitr in Atlanta

Ied al-Fitr which occurs after the observance of the fasting month in Ramadan constitutes a very special day for Muslims. This is because the day is conceived of as an emblem of victory after a full month of fasting which is believed to be a medium of self purification, as the day’s name suggests (fitr can also mean innate character or disposition, besides break fasting). Therefore, the day is cheerfully celebrated by Muslims all over the world. In Indonesia, Muslims express their joyous feeling for this day by first of all exchanging forgiveness with the family members, especially with the parent. Many visit the grave of the late parent or predecessors to pray to God and ask forgiveness for their faults. Moreover, they also visit neighbors and might take a long trip to far relatives, colleagues and friends for the same reason, pursuing forgiveness. During the course of the time, this tradition has established a new communal religious gathering known as halal bi halal. Basically this is a public or communal religious meeting in a community, organization or association whose members seek to exchange for mutual forgiveness amongst themselves. This gathering is usually held at mosques, public halls, work places or offices within a week or at the latest a month after this holiday and joined by the whole Muslim members of those communities. In this halal bi halal event or gathering, a special performance which consists of sequential ceremonies such as short religious speech (siraman rohani) and a congregational prayer (doa) is conducted. In addition, mutual hand-shaking between the participants and occasionally enjoying meals together mark the end of the gathering.

However, for Indonesian Muslims living abroad, like in the US, such event and its performance becomes a more complex phenomenon that entails negotiation and compromise due to different contexts and experiences they face. First, Ied does not count as holidays. Second, the members of the Indonesian Muslim community consist of diverse social backgrounds, such as businessmen, workers and students. The fact that few Indonesians getting married with foreigners join this event has fueled the complexity membership of this community. All these situations greatly affect the performance of halal bi halal as what has been recently held by the Indonesian Muslim community in Atlanta. In the following passage, I will depict this event and its performance which I think of it religious in spirit, but secular in practice. I argue that instead of being a formal religious forum, as what commonly found in its original country in Indonesia, this gathering serves as a medium through which the participants attempt to negotiate their own predicaments as alien denizens seeking for a broader common denominator, being Indonesian Muslims living in Diaspora. The meeting thus serves much as a forum of enjoyment, relaxation, recreation and pleasure of the social gathering amidst of their daily routines in a non-communal society, conditions that dramatically change the nature and performance of this tradition.

Halal bi Halal Performance
Most traditions in Muslim societies have a textual basis primarily derived from the Qur’an or the Prophet tradition, or both. The text could also be a secondary source such as the opinions of Muslim religious scholars (ulama) or legal advice offered by jurists (fuqaha). A prophetic tradition often cited as a normative textual basis for halal bi halal is concerned with the commandment of preserving silaturrahim, a good human relation and intensive communication with all mankind. Although this text does not specify any performative instruction, certain performative composition of halal bi halal commonly applies. It begins when all or the majority guests or participants, who also become audiences, come. A serial consecutive performance will be carried out, starting with an opening speech, followed by recitation of the selected verses of the Qur’an that directly or indirectly highlights the importance of such an event. Another speech is given by the organizer or the leader of the community. The core event is Islamic lecture presented by a religious scholar who has expertise and competence. A congregational prayer (doa) chanted verbally by an Imam marks the end of performance. By the end of the event, the participants, who are advised to take a modest dress which fulfills a minimum standard of courtesy in this community, stand up and shake hand one another. It is very common that foods and beverages are served before the participants leave. However, in Atlanta, such performative compositions are rarely met. I noticed several contexts that significantly create different experience and performance of this tradition. These contexts include timing, culture and language background, and dress code. In this regard, the context does influence the halal bi halal performance since the same text or idea about it might be able to produce different practice in different context. This holds true in respect to a halal bi halal performance in diaspora, as what occurred in Atlanta, the US. I argue that the current halal bi halal is a very quite different performance and is becoming very informal and less religious.

I attended halal bi halal after receiving an email invitation from the organizer. Upon performing the Ied prayer in al-Farooq Mosque in Atlanta, I met one of the members of the Indonesian Muslim community that recommended me to join halal bi halal in the weekend. I agreed to come since it would not conflict with the schedule of my academic courses. Besides, I missed this gathering last year. In Indonesia, the date and time for holding this tradition hardly becomes a crucial issue since Ied is a big national holiday with joyous celebration that takes almost a week day-off. Muslims there can perform it during the day-off, or weekdays after this long break or at another occasion. This year, the Ied occurred on weekday which subsequently causes timetable tension. The prayer was conducted at 9 a.m. and ended around 10 in the morning, leaving the folks with only a tiny time to run to work places. Some sought to negotiate this time conflict by asking for a day-leave permit from their employers or professors. However, this does not work a hundred percent. They thought that the fasting in this year would run normally for thirty days until September 30, and Ied will occur on Wednesday, the first of October. But Al-Farooq Mosque followed the majority of the Middle Eastern countries that celebrated Ied on Tuesday. As a result, some people could not go to the mosque but remained working on Tuesday, because they have asked for a leaving permit on Wednesday. For these people, missing the Ied prayer was really disappointing. This fact may explain why halal bi halal becomes a very important event because most community members are able to attend it. Especially for those who missed the Ied prayer, halal bi halal on the weekend is therefore necessary. Through this gathering they can see and exchange forgiveness one another on the same date and at the same place. It thus partly serves as a substitution of the missed prayer. Attending this gathering is then not less compelling since it in some ways constitutes as an alternative forum that mediates their time conflict, missing, and miscalculation.

I came to the halal bi halal forum along with my family and a friend of mine a bit late, but fortunately it had not been started and many guests had not attended. Bringing our own food, we entered the house in which several guests had been sitting in the guest room. Some women were busy preparing the foods and beverages. Special Indonesian foods arouse our appetite. We quickly joined the conversation and shook every body’s hand saying “minal a’idin wa al-faizin, mohon maaf lahir dan bathin”. The other participants did the similar gesture, greeting the audiences with such a special expression. This phrase constitutes a key greeting for Indonesians in the Ied occasion. It comprises of two languages. The first part, which is Arabic, means “[we are amongst those who] come back and get victory”. It echoes the main idea of Ied that the Muslims are symbolically deemed to just return from physical and mental religious training through fasting and gain victory once they are able to accomplish it. The second is Bahasa Indonesia, which means ‘please forgive all my mistakes physically and psychologically’. What does this mean? Such a phrase demonstrates a total sincere expression of asking forgiveness. Not only physical-material faults, but also immaterial-psychological mistakes should be thoroughly excused. Physical faults or mistakes occur when one hurts somebody else physically or endangers him/her materially. One is seen as committing immaterial faults if one makes somebody else angry or sad. So by shaking everybody’s hand, the halal bi halal participants expresses their deepest sincere for forgiveness through their body language and formal utterance. Thus this forum is hoped to be a medium that maintains a balanced harmonious life and empowers social relations. It can also play a pivotal role for conflict resolution, a theme that needs further examinations.

I was also interested in this forum because the theme of this event struck me. The theme clearly stated: “Halal bi halal perkumpulan masyarakat Muslim Indonesia dan warga negara asing lainnya di Atlanta” (Halal bi halal of the Indonesian Muslim community and other aliens in Atlanta). I hoped that by attending it I would have a distinguished experience from this diasporic tradition, and was wondering to see how far this various ethnics and cultural background of the forum creates a different experience and performance and how global context of the Ied celebration is realized in local context on the basis of pluralistic community. I expected few non-Indonesian Muslims would come. And I was correct once I got the place, where there were at least ten foreigners appeared; two whites, two Koreans, and the rest are Indo-Pakistani, Philippines and Malaysian and a couple of Malaysian. Unfortunately, there was no female alien. Most male foreigners are the husbands of Indonesian female Muslims, except for two unmarried Koreans who joined the gathering in search of “true” religious experience. The Imam of the community told me that they have followed several Islamic preaching before. These two guys officially do not yet convert to Islam, he said, but share a common view with Muslims; believing in one God. Like the plurality of the adult guests, children were no less “colorful”. White, black, Chinese, Malay and Indonesian children were playing around the guest room and the yard. From the children, I also noticed another cultural integrity; black-Indonesian and Chinese-Indonesian.

This heterogeneity brings about a discrete nuance of the forum. Different languages are often heard from the guest room. While most children spoke English, the adults conversed in many different languages. Although the majority talked in Bahasa Indonesia, some Indonesians spoke other languages, depending on whom they talk with. Some held their conversation in vernacular ethnic languages such as Javanese and Sundanese. My wife got involved in a light conversation in Javanese language with her new female Javanese acquaintances. A friend of mine from West Java engaged in a Sundanese humorous talk with the host, an old woman who is also a senior member of the community. Meanwhile, the whites, Malaysians and Koreans talked in English with their counterparts. As for me, I should have been aware enough whom I talk to. However, I unconsciously often imagined this gathering as an Indonesian forum, reflexively assuming all guests are able to speak Bahasa Indonesia. This pre-imagination proved to be miscellaneous and led me to inconvenience as I, again, unconsciously, began speaking in Indonesia with anybody. I only became realized with this err as my interlocutor replied me in English. It was ridiculous to be in such ashamed situation, something which hardly occurs in halal bi halal forums in Indonesia. Here, diasporic halal bi halal produce a new experience of multilingual gathering and creates another common denominator for the community. It was not Indonesian, nor was it bahasa Indonesia, but rather, it was English. So being Muslims and able to speak English are key words in this forum. While Islam portrays a basic idea and a common belief of the participants, English serves as a uniting language for this multicultural community. The important role of English was indispensable to address the diverse attendees, as the chairperson of the forum started giving an opening speech in English.

After waiting for a while, suddenly a young guy stood, drawing the people’s attention and breaking the noise. After all guests or audiences kept silent, he, who acted as the head committee of this event, began greeting them in Arabic saying Assalamu’alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu (peace and God’s mercy and blessing be upon you). This phrase always marks the beginning of every occasion in Islamic meeting and event. After praising God and His Prophet messenger, he welcomed the audience and explained what the event is in a couple of minute. Before closing his speech, he invited the audiences to enjoy the foods and dishes. At that time, I thought he acted as a master of ceremony who is responsible for controlling and managing the performance of the halal bi halal event, as what commonly prevails. In its prevalence performance, when the master of ceremony comes forward, standing up and drawing audience’s attention, his/her presence in front of the stage means that everyone should stop talking. The audiences are also called for returning to their position, sitting on the chair or on the floor and getting ready to begin. Then the formal performance starts and takes several consecutive ceremonies; a speech by the head of the community, an Islamic religious speech, a congregational prayer and ended by shaking everyone’s hand. This constitutes a minimum stage of a halal bi halal performance. But here, I only saw one opening speech that functions as a closing remark all at once. The core and peak performance is not hearing to a religious lesson, but enjoying dishes, taking pictures, relaxation and talks. Shaking hand, which marks the end of such a gathering, took place in even the very beginning when everybody comes and enters the room. Unexpectedly, the ending of this performance was not a closing speech, nor a doa, but a second round of eating surprisingly birthday’s cake which was served by a girl in the last hour of the event. In this regards, performance is reflexive action that can abruptly change during the course of the action.

After all participants have almost finished their dishes, one of the female guests brought a box to the dishes table. She immediately tore the cover and opened it. A young girl approached her soon and nervously took a knife and chopped the cake and put it in a small plate. Knowing what was going on, some audience moved from their position and shouted “happy birthday to you” many times. Yes, it was her seventeenth anniversary and she wanted to share her bliss with the halal bi halal participants. In my life, this halal bi halal, which is commonly supposed to be very religious in nature, was the first to be mixed up with such a popular, secular event of birthday celebration, something that, I believe, is beyond the Muslim’s imagination in her original country, Indonesia.

In fact, since entering the guest room, I was suspicious that there would be no such a halal bi halal performance as I used to attend. First, there is no formal stage and no banner was installed in the wall that clearly states what happens. In the formal performance, as it is commonly found in Indonesia, there must be a banner installed behind the stage where the performers stands up in front of it. The banner tells the participant about the event, its theme, key note speaker, the date and the place. Second, the chairs and the tables were not arranged neatly in accordance with a certain lane or row, but rather placed in the edge or under the wall or put them in every available space. Similarly, the carpet was laid down in the center of the room. This arrangement gives a flexible choice for the participants or the audiences so they can sit in their own convenience. If there had been a formal performance, the room arrangement would have been made accordingly. This setting arrangement of the stage eventually deconstructs the central role of performers and decentralizes the hierarchial structure between the participants or audiences and the performers. The performers, in this regard the chief committee, and the audiences, the guests and participants, were equally same and constitute the core players of the performance itself.

Another point that constitutes a vital cue telling how this performance will be held is the dress that the participants wore. Some participants did not wear dress that demonstrates they were attending a religious gathering. They did not wear for example a gamis (typically a Muslim long dress) which is usually adopted for prayer. Similarly, even though most female participants were veiled, some simply wore a short skirt. A young man even looked cool, painting his hair red and wearing a tight t-shirt that displays a tattoo on his arm. I have never seen this odd personal look is tolerated in any religious gathering in Indonesia because that is exactly considered as sacrilegious and the doer is obviously impolite. Dressing is always a vital issue in Islamic teaching. To join an Islamic forum, at least the participant must fulfill a minimum courtesy of dress. Those who adopt casual clothes and especially that young guy might be aware that halal bi halal in the Indonesian Muslim community in Atlanta is never meant to be a religious meeting, so he preferred adopting a funky clothe that appears distinguished himself from others. To him, the dress is perhaps a politics of self identity and expression that signals the independence of a youth.

Conclusion
This study confirms recent performance studies in anthropology that “performances may be primary modes of discourse in their own right, casting in sensuous images and performative action rather than in ordered sets of explicit, verbally articulated values or belief”. However, within the Islamic traditions, texts does plays vital role in ritual performance. However, the significant context of performance is obviously undeniable, as what can be seen at the halal bi halal performance. Living away from home country and becoming more engaged in a new society that holds different socio-cultural norms have dramatically changed the performance of halal bi halal amongst Indonesian Muslim community in Atlanta. While in Indonesia this tradition is very religious in nature and is arranged in sequential ceremonies, the people in diaspora simply make use of it as a social gathering that bridges their predicaments and unites them in a comfortable and enjoying forum. The solely element of religious dimension is only given in a fast and short opening speech which surprisingly constitutes as a closing remark as well. The community’s diverse background that consists of different professions, languages, ethnics, and cultures forced them to conduct that tradition in the most convenience performance which seems to be less religious, informal and above all for pleasure and fun.