La importancia de los recursos cinematográficos en el aula

Commercial relations and individualistic life-style in urban settings provide a fertile ground for the personal seeking of Islamic religiosity. This personal element of religiosity finds its social basis among the bourgeoning Muslim middle-class, which is not only aware of their social prestige, but also conscious about expressing their Islamic identity. This consciousness does not manifest naturally but it is shaped through a systemic and gradual process of informal learning in urban setting.

Geertz’s classical study on Javanese society suggested that puritan Islam would eventually diminish the influence of and even replace traditional beliefs as Indonesia came to modern era and urban commercial life takes into effect (1960). Such a suggestion was not empirically correct because, instead of vanishing

completely, traditional Islamic belief like Sufism has gained popularity among contemporary urban people. On the contrary to Geertz’s suggestion, Howell (2000, 17, 2001a, 701-729, 2007a, 217-240) points out that urban Sufism is a result of the New Order’s policy to promote economic modernisation through agricultural revolution in rural areas and industrialisation in urban areas. Thus, both Geertz and Howell have converging views that urban life in Indonesia can lead to rising Islamic piety. The principal difference is that while Howell believes in the survival of Sufism as a form of emotive piety, Geertz projected its replacement by a more legalistic or shariah oriented Islam.

Sufi piety is not a given condition but has emerged through a series of socio-cultural changes that took place in urban areas in the last 40 years. It is partly a response to growing spiritual needs of the Muslim middle and upper classes in Indonesia (Burhani 2001, 2002). Jakarta for instance became a fertile ground for propagating activities by all Islamic groups including those with Sufi inclination because it is a metropolitan city where the development of Islamic learning in urban settings has been well established. The proliferation of majlis taklim (religious study club) in the early 1980s provided the social foundation for this development. Since then, there has been a gradual revival of Sufism that offers many alternatives to urban Muslim middle and upper class in Indonesia. The majlis taklim has become the main intermediary institutions through which urban middle- upper class Muslims gain access to Sufi materials and instructions (Abaza 2004, 173-202). The emergence of Naqshbandi-Haqqani in particular is closely associated with the burgeoning of ‘Islamic salon’ and ‘Islamic chic’ among urban Muslims in the 1980s (Abaza 2004, 173-174).

As suggested by Abaza, the term ‘Islamic salon’ refers to a popular trend among the middle and upper class in which their houses are used for religious propagation, whereas ‘Islamic chic’ refers to the circumstance in which Islamic propagation was seen to become increasingly successful, both politically and economically. This had to do with the emerging spiritual marketplace in general and particularly with ‘Urban Sufism’ in the Jakarta metropolitan area (Howell 2000, 17). Higher educational background and a wealthier status among urban Muslims has led them to be more appreciative of philosophical or theoritical Sufism (Sufi falsafi). The flourishing of adult educational institutions with Sufi inclination such as Yayasan Tadzkiyah Sejati, IiMAN, and ICNIS manages to spread Sufi teachings and devotion to the urban population in metropolitan area of Jakarta. They offer tasawuf class with a curriculum that introduces prominent Sufi philosophers such as Ibn Arabi, Jalaludin Rumi, and Al Ghazali. This growing interest in philosophical Sufism opened up for practical Sufism (Sufi amali), which was preoccupied with ritual, charismatic veneration and emotive experience.

During the 1990s, the Islamisation process became increasingly visible in all aspects of Indonesian society, leading to further changes in the landscape of Indonesia’s religious life. Sufi ritual gatherings helped to obscure the rigid demarcating line between traditionalist and modernist Muslims as a socio-cultural category (Howell 2000, 17). Promoting Sufi rituals therefore is considered necessary, if not pivotal, for teaching lay Muslims the virtue of loving the Prophet Muhammad and his family.63 Moreover, Sufi rituals should be promoted, especially when the Muslim community is plagued by internal discord and conflict.

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The Naqshbandi-Haqqani represents further institutional development and transformation of urban Sufism in Indonesia as people become increasingly eager to attach their religious conviction and practices to a particular Sufi master/order.

In this context, the biography of Mustafa Mas’ud provides a good example of how an urban lifestyle can be compatible with Muslim religiosity. Mustafa Mas’ud was born 25 January 1947 in Jombang from the family of Pesantren Darul Ulum. His mother is a younger sister of KH Romli Tamim, a well-known Sufi master of Naqshbandi-Qadiri. In his youth, he learned from his grandfather, K.H. Romli Tamim (1888-1958) at Pesantren Darul Ulum. He finished his elementary and secondary schools at Darul Ulum before pursuing his undergraduate degree at Sunan Kalijaga Islamic State University in Yogyakarta (1970-1974). During his undergraduate studies in Yogyakarta, Mustafa Mas’ud was a student activist through his involvement with PMII, a NU-affiliate university student association.

After finishing his undergraduate degree in 1974, he moved to Jakarta where he started his career as a NGO activist at LP3ES (1975-1978). Then, he became a lecturer at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia between 1978 and 1981. He obtained an MA degree from SOAS University of London in 1982, and pursued his PhD at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universitat, Frankfurt in 1983. Unfortunately, he did not complete his PhD study because of, as he described it, personal conflict with the then Indonesian ambassador to West Germany following his refusal to stop his political activism .64

Upon returning to Indonesia in 1983, he married Syarifah Fatmah Alatas, a descendant of Sayyid Hadrami from Pekalongan, Central Java. He made a living as

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a lecturer in Islamic studies at several private and state universities in Jakarta and Bogor (Ibn Khaldun University in Bogor, State School of Accountancy/STAN, Pancasila University, As Syafi’iyah Islamic University, and Jakarta Muhammadiyah University). It was during this period that he established a small religious study club consisting largely of university students. Mustafa Mas’ud combines his modern educational background and traditional Islamic knowledge in his religious teachings. He sought Islamic knowledge from many Muslim scholars throughout Indonesia such as Kyai Hamid Pasuruan (1914-1982), Kyai Marzuki Magelang, Kyai Dimyati (1925-2003) Pandeglang, and Kiai Thohir Pekalongan. Many of his disciples claimed that he held authority in seven different tariqah before dedicating himself solely to teaching Naqshbandi-Haqqani. He is fluent in both Arabic and English, which helps him not only to communicate effectively with Sheikh Nazim and Hisham Kabbani but also to give his own interpretation of their teachings.

Through his wife’s social connections - Fatmah Alatas was then a wedding planner/organiser for Jakarta’s middle andupper classes as well as top celebrities - Mustafa Mas’ud managed to get access to some Islamic study groups (majlis taklim) in Jakarta. With the help of his wife, Mustafa Mas’ud became a religious instructor in NAMIRA, a women Islamic study group established in 1986 and led by Tini Firdaus, wife of Firdaus Wajdi. The majority of its members came from Jakarta’s middle and upper classes and though relatively small in number, members of NAMIRA came from socio-economic backgrounds with strong connections to Jakarta’s political and business elites. Since its inception, the group has been running weekly gatherings in residential houses in Kebayoran Baru, Menteng, and

Pondok Indah. On many occasions, this Islamic study group also holds religious gatherings in luxurious five-star hotels across Jakarta. One of its principal financial patrons is Hartini Usman Affan, who was also the financial supporter of PTIQ and IIQ, the two Islamic institutions focusing on Quranic studies led by KH Ibrahim Hosen (1917-2001).

Initially, Mustafa Mas’ud acted only as a religious instructor who specialised in fiqh-oriented Islamic learning, such as the proper way to do ablution and obligatory prayer (shalat), how to measure alms (zakat) and voluntary donations (infaq and shodaqoh), to conduct pilgrimage journey (haji) and so forth. As people’s Islamic knowledge increased, however, fiqh-oriented religious instruction gradually became obsolete. He therefore began to focus on ritual- oriented Islamic learning by providing personal services such as leading obligatory and supererogatory prayers and giving practical guidance on reciting prayer in Arabic. He also acted as pilgrimage guide (pemandu ziarah) for those conducting the ritual of hajj and umrah. Though he did not make a living from this service, it enabled him to conduct the hajj and umrah many times for free.65

He continued and even expanded this service after being appointed national representative of Naqshbandi-Haqqani in 1997. As a national representative, he began to initiate people on behalf of Sheikh Hisham as well as accompanying his teacher on several journeys overseas. Mustafa Mas’ud has also accompanied Sheikh Nazim and Hisham Kabbani on pilgrimage journeys in different countries where Naqshbandi-Haqqani has historical connections. Between 1997 and 2008, he visited the shrines of Bayazid al Bistami (Iran), Sheikh Bahauddin Naqshband,

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Amir Kulal, Imam al Bukhori, and Ubaidillah Ahrar (Uzbekistan), Sheikh Khalid al Baghdadi and Abdullah Faiz Dagestani (Syria), and Sheikh Sharafudin (Turkey). The case of Mustafa Mas’ud provides a broader picture of socio-cultural changes affecting the Muslim middle- class in urban areas. His personal experiences reflect the dynamics of religiosity among his followers. At the beginning, informal Islamic learning took the form of majlis taklim, an informal forum where Muslims receive instruction in basic Islamic shariah provisions. Then, it transforms into majlis dzikir where the environment is more intimate through the introduction of collective and communal rituals. Collective ritual leads to initiation into Sufi tarekat when Islamic learning and collective ritual becomes more and more intense.