THE EFFECT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAMIC CULTURE IN JAVA

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAMIC CULTURE IN JAVA

The arrival of Western nations to the Asian region dates back to the beginning of the 16th century. In 1511 the Portuguese occupied Malacca, then in 1522 built a fort in Ternate. In 1611 the Dutch established Bennteng in Jakarta (Batavia), but during the colonialism that lasted two and a half centuries, the indigenous people were left to remain ignorant so that they could be biased into slavery and their country's wealth extracted. It was only in the latter half of the 19th century that the Dutch wanted to open a Western-style school for the natives.

Initially such schools were only reserved for prijaji and Christian children to educate their lackeys in bureaucracy, but then there are also wealthy little kids who can get Western-style education. In fact, many have the opportunity to continue their education in the Netherlands. 

This Western model of education influenced the emergence of indigenous educated groups. This group then gave off their enthusiasm to fight against the invaders.

The influence of modern Western education itself on pesantren (religion) society is the emergence of a movement for the purification of shari'ah practice and the modernization of Islamic thought, namely a movement back to a progressive culture like that which took place in the time of the Prophet, and the age of scientific thought in the Baghdad and Kordova civilizations. 

That means keeping away from every form of bid'ah and khurafat. In Javanese culture, this frees itself from the syncretic form of slametan and tahlilan which has been a tradition for centuries among the pesantren community.

Through the perspective of Islam, the religious awakening movement turned out to be awakening Muslims to the four steps of thought development, such us:

First, a step back to syar'i, which is to return to the radiance of a scientifically rational Islamic culture with a call to open the door to ijtihad again (back to the Al-Quran and Sunnah) which obliges ijtihad and respects scholars who can reach the rank of mujtahid. Returning to the Qur'an and Sunnah does not mean ignoring and belittling the opinions of the earlier schools of thought. However, it is precisely the view that the products of these schools of thought are very important and cannot be ignored by prospective religious experts.

Being a religious thinker is impossible to achieve without examining the opinions of the previous schools of thought in the yellow book. The importance of the study of the yellow book was shown by Muhammadiyah in Indonesia, which at its Congress in Pekalongan in 1927 decided to establish the Tarjih Council as the backbone in overcoming religious problems. Tarjih means considering the opinion of a stronger school or the possibility of finding new views in the face of changing times. 

The Fatwas of the Tarjih Council are indeed taken into account for Muhammadiyah followers, but they are not binding, because environmental conditions may require other wisdom. For example, the Tarjih Council has not dared to make a halal decision on bank interest. However, many Muhammadiyah figures saved and borrowed money from banks.

Second, the movement to renew religious thinkers and understanding. This movement was pioneered by Jamaluddin Afghani, Muhammad Abduh and Rasyid Ridla. In contrast to the Wahabi religious purification movement, the Islamic thinker reform movement is a reaction to the stagnation and backwardness of Muslims. 

This underdevelopment has resulted in the trampling of Muslims. From the reaction and concern about the backwardness of the ummah from Western nations, the main thought of this movement is an effort to analyze the causes that weaken Muslims, to then treat them. The idea arose to reconstruct Islamic teachings by utilizing dynamic elements of science originating from Western civilization.

In Indonesia, the modernization of Islamic thought is often referred to as the actualization of Islam and the Islamic ummah. Various kinds of concepts emerge which are sometimes unclear. For example, Islamic secularization, grounding Islam, contextual interpretation and so on. The fundamental weakness of the modernists has made Islamic thinkers transcendent. So it is still philosophical-speculative like the thinking of medieval scholars (the greatness of Baghdad). Namely, they are still fixated on the normative Islamic way of thinking. 

This direction of thinking was ultimately barren and yielded little reform. Thinkers in the field of faith or Islamic law are still running in place. But nowadays Muslim scholars who master the general sciences are far more advanced and progressive than traditional-normative scholars. This situation has triggered the emergence of new ideas, namely religious research.

Third, grounding Islamic insights and thoughts, namely developing Islamic insight, which means exploring new historical Islamic knowledge. In modern times, it is not enough for religious experts to study the yellow book, but also to study the science of life in the midst of society and its local culture. Therefore, the science of religion is not sufficiently studied deductively, but rather studied by empirical analysis. Knowledge of Islam and Javanese culture is a field of science that is still being researched. This empirical Islamic science requires a positivistic approach.

Fourth, trying to make religion a moral force. Religion as a moral force is a must. Therefore the Prophet Muhammad was sent to perfect morals. In Indonesia, religion needs to support the elaboration and practice of the state philosophy of Pancasila. The demands of Islam to become a bulwark for increasingly strong moral power. 

However, the dominance of the rationality of scientific theory or the progress of world civilization has led to the capitalist system and has made the world of humanity seem to have been drowned by all-secular and materialist morality. For example, Western Christianity was apparently unable to modernize the currents of secularism and materialism, and was even marginalized.

Returning to the problem of the historical product of interaction between Islam and Javanese culture. The Islamic culture of Kejawen was supported by priyayi who belonged to the intellectual group at that time. Therefore, the supporters of the Islamic-Kejawen cultural environment have an individual, independent and dynamic perspective. Moreover, the understanding of patheism in Sufism is not tied to the chosen syari'at, but in the conception that God and humans are unity. Thus, this mystical philosophy poses the King as the embodiment of God (God-King). So mysticism is used as a tool to strengthen power, so that it moves away from the escapism of the sticky understanding in pesantren. In the priyai cultural environment (Islam-Kejawen), the value of power is everything. Namely the morality of power which has the principle that "political correctness has logic and justification based on the analysis of threats, challenges, obstacles and disturbances to the continuity of political power". 

In Javanese expression, "position is happiness" because position is seen as happiness, people are easily tempted to commit acts of corruption and collusion. The interesting thing is that with the entry of Western culture, the supporters of the Islamic-Kejawen culture have quickly adapted to Western-style education. Because the priyayi group was prioritized by the Dutch as an assistant to the government bureaucracy, this group easily adjusted to the advancement of Western civilization, so that during the independence era they held the reins of the leadership of the State. 

The Islamic cultural environment of the pesantren is very expressive and leads to the mythology of the saints who are said to have mastered various kinds of ghoib (sacred) sciences. The Islamic cultural environment of Islamic boarding schools in Java is basically traditional and slow in accepting Western cultural influences. Moreover, the teacherism system in the tarekat tradition is more concerned with the science of ghoib, so it is difficult to develop a critical power like in the Western model of education. Not to mention the anti-Western instincts of nativity, which made them reluctant to send their children to Dutch schools. 

There is even an opinion that sending children to Dutch schools is tantamount to allowing children to become followers of Christianity. However, because the spread of Islam in the colonial era was quite extensive, of course there were a number of santri who attended public schools.  Moreover also many of them belong to the priyayi group. For example, serving as a Keraton (Sultanate) or a religious official.

In Java the Islamic reform movement was carried out with great wisdom. Perhaps Muhammadiyah, the Islamic Union (Persis) and the Indonesian Islamic Union Party (P S I I) realized the impossibility of changing the traditional Islamic adherents to Islam syar'I at once, therefore reformers took a path through a change in the education system. They put forward amar ma'ruf nahi mungkar.

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