How do Indonesian Muslims see, perceive, and engage with the “imagined” Arab world? What does “Arab” mean for them? Who shapes and “guides” their view, opinion, interpretation, and understandings about the Arab world? What factors have shaped their imagination and portrayals of the Arab world and “Arabness”?
These are among the questions that the author tries to answer in this fine book, which was developed from her doctoral thesis. To answer these intriguing questions, the author departed from her home country (Germany) for Indonesia to gather data among the returnees of Mecca pilgrims and among Gulf (especially Saudi Arabia) female labor migrants in several locations in Central Java (including Yogyakarta) and Madura.
The research method of data collection and analysis used by the author was “an inductive, reflexive, and qualitative methodological approach, inspired by the methods of Grounded Theory,” which emphasizes the “constant shifting between analysis and further data generation, reflection, participant observation, and interviews [or conversations] that focused on learning about post-travel narratives within the biography of research participants” (p. 18).
In brief, the protagonists of the present book are Javanese and Madurese (hajj) pilgrims and menial workers, along with their families, neighbors, friends, and guides. This is to say that the book tries to examine Indonesian understandings, perceptions, and imaginations of the Arab world from the standpoints of Muslim pilgrims and migrants – two distinctive, but the two most numerous, groups of Indonesian travelers to the Arab Middle East. Hence, the choice of pilgrim and migrant groups as the subject of study perhaps due to their experiences of living (or temporary staying) in the Arab region of the Middle East. However, the author does not only discuss the pilgrims’ and migrants’ views of the Arab world per se but also link their opinions, perceptions, and attitudes toward Indonesia's contemporary debates and contestation among various groups of Muslims about Arabization, Arabness, Islam Nusantara, public Islam, Islamic populism, and so on.
To obtain more balanced, nuanced, and “comprehensive” data and information, she selected rural and urban areas of Central Java and Madura. The author chose Central Java (Yogyakarta region included) and Madura as the field sites of her research mainly because, among other reasons, societies in these two regions – she assumed – represent two different characteristics of Indonesian Muslims that might offer distinct opinions, understandings, assessments, and interpretations about the Arabness and the Arab world. According to the author, Madura (like other regions such as South Sulawesi, West Java, Aceh, or Lombok, more generally) favors “Arabness” and Madurese are proud of being associated with Arab identity. She has noted that symbols of “Arabness” are omnipresent in Madura such as “Arabic script on street signs; a Middle Eastern-inspired music style; everyday language and clothing style; Arabic names and the overall presence of Hadhrami communities; and their sale of cosmetics, holy water, dates, and other items from the Middle East” (p. 22). As well, many pondok pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) in Madura have maintained good relations with Islamic learning institutions in Saudi Arabia (or Yemen). Many Madurese Muslim clerics (known as “kyai”) who often emphasize their historical, cultural, religious, or spiritual connections to the Arabian Peninsula have sent their pupils (known as “santri”), via informal channels and personal ties, to further learn Islamic sciences in the centers of Islam in Saudi Arabia (and Yemen), usually in informal schools.
Moreover, Central Java, the author maintains, represents a region in which its residents are more inclined to “Javaneseness” and are proud of that cultural and religious heritage, tracing its lineage to the past Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms (pp. 18–19). Where Islam style is expressed, Madura (known as the “Terrace of Medina,” perhaps because Aceh has already claimed the epithet “Verandah of Mecca”) is home to orthodox, Arab-style Islam, whereas Central Java is a center of “Islam Jawa” (or lately, “Islam Nusantara”), a sort of heterodox, Java-style Islam that combines or syncretizes Islamic teachings and doctrines with local cultural-religious practices and elements (e.g., kejawen, mysticism, legends, Javanese worldview, remnants of Hindu-Buddhist traditions, and so forth).
Although the book's main actors are pilgrims and migrants, it would be a mistake to state that their perceptions and understandings of the Arab world genuinely came from their thoughts. The author argues that the pilgrims’ and migrants’ opinions of the Arab world have essentially been shaped, influenced, and guided by multiple forms of structures and agencies. Not only their views, but also their mobility across the Indian Ocean to the Middle East has also been guided by a variety of structures and agencies. Mobility or movement from one to another location is not always marked by fluidity and flexibility. In fact, some forms of mobility are “highly regulated, channeled, controlled, and framed” (p. 16). The structures and agencies that guided the pilgrims and migrants, along with their perceptions and mobility, include institutions, interpersonal relationships, situated representations, governmental bureaucracy (i.e., the Ministry of Religious Affairs or the Ministry of Transmigration and Manpower), and intermediaries such as migrant brokers, travel agents, government officials, previous pilgrims and returned emigrants, etc.
The book is divided into four main chapters, besides its introduction and conclusion. Chapter 1 (pp. 26–55) outlines a historical overview of ambiguous encounters between Indonesia and the Arab world. The author argues that since the earliest encounters with Arab merchants prior to the birth of Islam in the seventh century and before the advent of Islam in the Malay–Indonesian archipelago up to the present days, Indonesians’ attitudes toward Arabs and the Arab world have been typified by ambiguity and contradictory dynamics. On one hand, Indonesians have long acknowledged Arabs as one of their important Islamic gurus (teachers) and allies in the struggle for and defense of the country's independence. On the other hand, the Arab world of the Middle East has shown violent practices (wars, terrorism, murders, hostility, intolerance, fanaticism, etc.) that contradict the endeavors of government officials and religious elites to portray (and create) the country as a peaceful, democratic, moderate, harmonious, and tolerant place.
Chapter two (pp. 56–106) characterizes the nature of today's mobility of Indonesian pilgrims and migrants to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. The author argues that, for the migrants and pilgrims, migration and pilgrimage are actually “beaten tracks,” which are loaded with “meaning and direction with previous travelers’ narratives, institutional guidance, and intermediaries’ navigation.” Moreover, the chapter also highlights different kinds of “success stories” of migrants and pilgrims (while migrants usually deal with financial matters and the opportunity to perform hajj or umrah without waiting lists and bureaucratic complexities, pilgrims are typically about spiritual and religious experiences), which result from guided mobility. The popular stories of success and good images of the Arab world eventually have guided and contributed to the formation of successive candidates for pilgrimage and migration.
Chapter three (pp. 107–152) sketches the ambiguity “in the representations of Indonesian selves and Arab Others,” followed by explanations of the larger sociopolitical aspects of images of Arab Others. Through individual biographies of pilgrims and migrants, the chapter also engages with contemporary debates and contestation about “Arabization,” Arab identity, or the particular religious style of Muslims.
Chapter four (pp. 153–196) describes the “microlevel of individuals’ processing migratory experiences and explores the particularities and exceptions in the overall appropriation, rejection, and Othering of Arabness” (p. 25). Two case studies are discussed in this chapter, namely (1) Javanese labor migrants’ rejection of Arabness and (2) Madurese peoples’ vivid localizations of Arabness. From these specific case studies, the author suggests that, firstly, changes in religious lifestyles among diverse Indonesian Muslims cannot be generalized; and secondly, the ambiguity of engagements with the Arab world among Javanese migrants and Madurese migrants (and pilgrims) was the outcome of different guiding narratives.
The way the author discussed and explained contemporary debates about and contestation of, for instance, “Islam Arab” (representing “orthodox, conservative Islam”) versus “Islam Jawa/Nusantara” (representing “heterodox, moderate, and pluralist Islam”) by means of (ordinary Muslim) pilgrims and female migrant workers is interesting and important for academia since literature and scholarships on this theme are extremely rare.
As well, the way the author selected field sites and informants of her research is also significant. The Madurese, along with the Javanese, have been significant groups of hajj pilgrims to Mecca and to the Middle Eastern as menial migrants. For centuries, Madurese people voyaged to the Arabian Peninsula for hajj pilgrimage (or to pursue Islamic knowledge and sciences), and since last decades, emigrated to Gulf states (most notably, Saudi Arabia) as (“unskilled”) migrant workers. In Saudi Arabia, Madurese – both documented and undocumented migrants – compose one of the largest Indonesian communities. Many Madurese consider Mecca as their “second homeland” (after Indonesia); and thereby they are willing to live and die in the place that they believe to be the “tickets of entrance” to Heaven. For many Muslims, Mecca and Medina are regarded as the Holy Lands or “Haramain” – two sacred, and meaningful geographies.
Interestingly, however, to my knowledge, the Madurese have rarely been the subject of academic study or scholarly research. Most studies on migration or pilgrimage focus on Javanese (or Sundanese) societies. Accordingly, the book is significant not only from the perspective of theoretical building but also for practical purposes since its research findings would be very useful for scholars, governments, policymakers, and specialists of Muslim pilgrimage, transnationalism, tourism, and mobility studies to learn about this group.
Even though the book is certainly important for academic and non-academic communities alike, it has some disturbing minor (some major) mistakes that require careful re-assessment and clarification in future editions. Many of these are in background knowledge.
For example, the association of Walisongo (i.e., nine Muslim figures that contributed to the spread of Islam in Java since the 15th century onward) with Java's inland (pedalaman) religious traditions, marked by the presence of heterodoxy, philosophical Sufism, mysticism, or pro-local cultures and heritages (e.g., wayang and gamelan), is not or is only partially true. Some members of Walisongo were Shariah-minded conservative Muslim scholars. As well, Walisongo should not be linked to “Islam pedalaman” but with “Islam pesisir” (i.e., Islamic and Muslim traditions on the northern sea shore of Java) since all of them lived in northern Java's towns: Cirebon, Demak, Kudus, Jepara, Tuban, Lasem, Gresik, or Surabaya. It was Muslim figures and leaders of the Jipang and Mataram kingdoms that later brought the Walisongo traditions and narratives to the inlands of Central Java for political reasons (e.g., to attract Muslims in the pesisir to avert rebellion against the kingdoms). The concept of Walisongo itself is a subject of debate. Some refer to the nine Muslim figures/preachers in the fifteenth century onward, whereas others consider it as an institution of Islamic propagation in the past of Java that consists of unlimited Muslim figures/preachers.
The categorization of “abangan” as Sufi (and heterodox) Muslims and “santri” as orthodox (non-Sufi) is also inapt. The term “abangan” is simply “nominal, non-practicing Muslims,” many of whom are not familiar with Sufi traditions. As well, many santri are heterodox Muslims who appreciate local cultural practices and engage with various forms of Sufi and tarekat (Sufi orders) traditions.
The author's linking the Padri movement in West Sumatra in the eighteenth century to the Wahhabi movement in the Arabian Peninsula is also in need of further critical assessment since there are different characteristics between the two movements. Besides, in the eighteenth century, Wahhabism had not influenced the Arabian Peninsula, except in the isolated place of Najd in central Arabia. Wahhabis expanded west (western Arabia or Hijaz), including Mecca, only in the 1920s. Hence, the Padri movement that pitted against local traditions and cultural practices (adat) of Minangkabau could be driven by puritanical ideas and conservative narratives within the Sunni school.
It is also important to bear in mind that Muslims who support the ideas of “Islam Nusantara” or “Islam Jawa” are not synonymous with “anti-Arab.” Many of them are pro-Arab (using Arabic books and languages, wearing Arab-style clothing, or becoming fans of Arab sadah), and graduates from the Arab Middle East educational institutions or their branches in Indonesia. They just oppose “different kinds of Arab,” namely Arab cultures, traditions, practices, or Islamic discourses that are anti-Indonesian identity, traditions, cultures, and “Indonesianess.” Interestingly, many Arabs in Indonesia support the notions of Islam Nusantara.
The author also said that Islam Nusantara is promoted by the government. I would suggest the government officially supports the idea of “Islam wasathiyah” (Islamic moderation), while “Islam Nusantara” has been primarily promoted by some factions of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's largest Muslim social organization. Other NU members strongly oppose the ideas of Islam Nusantara. There are some other minor things that need to be carefully re-assessed such as Mecca's Umm Al-Qura University as an “old prestigious Islamic university,” where the Madurese (or Javanese) learnt Islam. Umm Al-Qura is a new university, founded in the 1980s. As for contemporary Indonesian Muslims, the Islamic University of Medina (founded in early 1960s) is the most common destination for study. In past centuries, Madurese and Javanese people studied Islam in Mecca's pre-university informal Islamic learning centers such as rubat (ribat), ma'had, majelis, madrasah, or the Haram Mosque. Due to limited space, I cannot review all minor mistakes in the book. Suffice to say, some revision is required of these minor (but distracting) errors.
Notwithstanding this lacuna, the book certainly presents an important topic in contemporary Indonesian Islam and society and is greatly useful for those concerned with the issues of transnational migration, pilgrimage, and human mobility.
