5 - Keramat Gunung: Islam and Muslim Politics in Candikuning

Summary

In the previous chapter, I discussed the debate over the authority and authenticity of the saintly status attributed to Ali Bafaqih in an exclusively Muslim community in the Muslim village of Loloan and how the saintly discourse is negotiated and closely connected to economic miracles and the religious economy. By extension, this chapter examines issues of authority and authenticity regarding a contested Muslim sacred place, the least visited grave of the Wali Pitu, in the mixed Hindu-Muslim village of Candikuning in central Bali. Unlike the previous chapter, which shows the debate among traditionalist Muslims who are divided by culture and geography, this chapter gives insight into the debate between reformist and traditionalist Muslims, demonstrates how the contestation shapes and is being shaped by the local specificities of the villagers, and discusses ‘Muslim politics’1 in contemporary Bali.

The first part of the chapter discusses the differences between traditionalist and reformist Muslims with regard to saint veneration. The second part discusses the history of the creation of Keramat Gunung as an important pilgrimage site for Muslim pilgrims from outside the village. The third part examines Keramat Gunung's spatial marginality and its centrality in the eyes of spiritual wandering pilgrims (tirakat pilgrims). The fourth part examines the dynamics of Islam and Muslim politics in the mixed Hindu-Muslim village of Candikuning. This part discusses the rise of the reformist kaum muda movement that led to the foundation of the Muslim customary village (desa adat), the codification of Islamic customary laws (adat), and the debate about the authenticity of Keramat Gunung's sacredness. The final part of this chapter will examine the configurations of Islam in the village. In a comparative way, it takes into account how the traditionalist kaum tua and the reformist kaum muda translate the notion of autochthonous (asli) and allochthonous (pendatang) into different forms of religious activities and alliances.

This chapter argues that looking at the distinction between traditionalists and reformists is still a fruitful way to study the debates on saint veneration in Islam. Nevertheless, it also argues that the notion of reformists should be understood from the local situatedness of reform projects. Seen in this light, the project of Islamic reformism is a complex process which involves elements beyond scriptural orthodoxy. It is also designated as a means to articulate socio-political trajectories linked to identity formation, inviting a mode of exclusion and inclusion in a given society.