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Insights Into the Lives of Indonesian Female Tablighi Jama’at*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2014

EVA F. NISA
EVA F. NISA*
Affiliation:
The Australian National University, Australia, and Universität Hamburg, Germany Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Tablighi Jama’at is one of the most popular Islamic purist movements in the world. Although it has a growing presence in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, little research has thus far been done on its activities in that country. To gain access to Indonesian society, the Tablighi Jama’at has been particularly original in choosing a uniquely Indonesian institution as its entry point: the pesantren (Islamic boarding schools). The role of pesantren for the Tablighis in Indonesia is not confined to spreading Islamic knowledge, they also serve as a hub of Tablighi activities. This paper focuses on examining the role of the Tablighi pesantren in shaping and transmitting religious knowledge to its Indonesian followers, and in particular to female followers, as there is to date no scholarship on this topic. It analyses the life experiences of female Tablighis inside and outside the pesantren and their passion to belong to a global imagined Tablighi community. Transnational travel of female Tablighis from diverse neighbouring countries is a central part of the pesantren experience. For Indonesian Tablighi women, the presence of these female guests and foreign students who are enrolled in the pesantren play a significant role in strengthening their passionate desire to be part of the global Tablighi Jama’at umma.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 48 , Issue 2: Networks of Religious Learning and the Dissemination of Religious Knowledge across Asia , March 2014 , pp. 468 - 491
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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Footnotes

*

Many thanks to Mirjam Künkler, Christophe Jaffrelot, Kathryn Robinson, Radhika Gupta, and Faried F. Saenong who read and commented on previous versions of this paper. As the author of the paper, I alone take responsibility for the analysis presented here.

References

1 For a detailed explanation of the history of Tablighi Jama’at, see Haq, M. A. (1972). The Faith Movement of Mawlana Muhammad Ilyas, Allen and Unwin, LondonGoogle Scholar; Troll, Christian W. (1985). ‘Five Letters of Maulana Ilyas (1885–1944), the Founder of the Tabligh Jama’at’ in Troll, C. W. (ed.), Islam in India: Studies and Commentaries 2: Religion and Religious Education, Vikas, Delhi, pp. 138–176Google Scholar; Metcalf, Barbara D. (1993). ‘Living hadīth in the Tablīghī Jamā‘at’, Journal of Asian Studies, 52:3, pp. 584–608CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ahmad, Mumtaz (1991). ‘Islamic Fundamentalism in South Asia: The Jamaat-i-Islami and the Tablighi Jamaat of South Asia’ in Marty, M. E. and Appleby, R. S. (eds), Fundamentalisms Observed, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, pp. 457–530Google Scholar; Masud, Muhammad K. (2000). ‘The Growth and Development of Tablīghī Jamā‘at in India’ in Masud, M. K. (ed.), Travelers in Faith: Studies of Tablīghī Jamā‘at as a Transnational Islamic Movement for Faith Renewal, Brill, Leiden, pp. 3–43Google Scholar; Aziz, Abdul (2004). ‘The Jamaah Tabligh movement in Indonesia: peaceful fundamentalist’, Studia Islamika, 11:3, pp. 467–517CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On the Tablighi Jama’at as a transnational movement, see Marc Gaborieau (2000). ‘The Transformation of Tablīghī Jamā‘at into a Transnational Movement’ in Masud (ed.), Travellers in Faith, pp. 121–138.

2 Gaborieau, ‘The Transformation of Tablīghī Jamā‘at into a Transnational Movement’, p. 121.

3 Gaborieau, ‘The Transformation of Tablīghī Jamā‘at into a Transnational Movement’, pp. 121–122.

4 See Yusran Razak (2008). ‘Jama’ah Tabligh: Ajaran dan Dakwahnya’, PhD thesis, Ilmu Agama Islam, Sekolah Pascasarjana, Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah. For more on the history of the Tablighi Jama’at in Indonesia and the early presence of the first female followers of Indonesian Tablighis, see Amrullah, Eva F. (2011). ‘Seeking sanctuary in “the age of disorder”: women in contemporary Tablighi Jama’at’, Contemporary Islam, 5:2, pp. 135–160CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 Amrullah, ‘Seeking sanctuary in “the age of disorder”’, p. 139.

6 Farish A. Noor (2009). ‘The spread of the Tablighi Jama’at across Western, Central and Eastern Java and the role of Indian Muslim diaspora’, RSIS Working Paper, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, no. 175, Singapore.

7 I use the term ‘Tablighi pesantren’ to identify those pesantren that have a close connection to the Tablighi Jama’at movement. This connection does not have to be a formal link.

8 Most studies focus on the presence of pesantren from other purist groups. Recently, those of Salafi movements have been the main focus of many scholars. For example, see Hasan, Noorhaidi (2008). ‘The Salafi Madrasas of Indonesia’ in Noor, F. A., Sikand, Y. and van Bruinessen, M. (eds), The Madrasa in Asia: Political Activism and Transnational Linkages, Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, pp. 247–274Google Scholar; van Bruinessen, Martin (2008). ‘“Traditionalist” and “Islamist” Pesantren in Contemporary Indonesia’ in Noor, , Sikand, and Van Bruinessen, (eds), The Madrasa in Asia, pp. 217–245Google Scholar; Farish A. Noor (2007). ‘Ngruki revisited: Modernity and its discontents at the Pondok Pesantren al-Mukmin of Ngruki, Surakarta’, RSIS Working Paper, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, no. 139, Singapore; Tan, Charlene (2011). Islamic Education and Indoctrination: The Case in Indonesia, Routledge, New York and LondonGoogle Scholar.

9 See also Sikand, Yoginder (1999). ‘Women and the Tablighi Jama‘at’, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, 10:1, p. 41CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Amrullah, ‘Seeking sanctuary in “the age of disorder”’.

10 Anderson, Benedict (2006). Imagined Communities, Verso, London and New York, p. 6Google Scholar.

11 Mastura or masturoh in Arabic literally means ‘something being covered’. Among Tablighis, mastura is generally a term referring to a woman. Some use it to refer only to a woman who has performed khurūj (to go out of one's own neighbourhood in order to proselytize). Matters relating to women always use mastura, so the term used to define women's khurūj is mastura khurūj (or in Indonesia it is sometimes called masturohan), and women's ta‘līm (religious study group) is mastura ta‘līm.

12 Therefore, in this sense, Tablighi Jama’at can be regarded as a purist movement because its founder strove to ‘purify’ Islam through an emphasis on returning to its pristine form as practised by the Prophet and his companions. See Masud, ‘The Growth and Development of Tablīghī Jamā‘at in India’.

13 Ali, Jan A. (2010). ‘Tablīgh Jamā‘at: A transnational movement of Islamic faith regeneration’, European Journal of Economic and Political Studies, 3, p. 108Google Scholar.

14 Marwah, I. S. (1979). ‘Tabligh Movement among the Meos of Mewat’ in Rao, M. S. A. (ed.), Social Movements in India, Manohar, New Delhi, p. 94Google Scholar.

15 Ahmad, ‘Islamic Fundamentalism in South Asia’, p. 512.

16 Pigeaud, Th. G. Th. (1967). Literature of Java, Vol. 1, Synopsis of Javanese Literature 900–1900 A.D., Nijhoff, The HagueCrossRefGoogle Scholar; van Bruinessen, Martin (1994). ‘Pesantren and Kitab Kuning: Maintenance and Continuation of a Tradition of Religious Learning’ in Marschall, W. (ed.), Text from the Islands. Oral and Written Traditions of Indonesia and the Malay World, University of Berne, Berne, pp. 121–145Google Scholar; Azra, Azyumardi and Afrianty, Dina (2005). ‘Pesantren and Madrasa: Modernization of Indonesian Muslim Society’, Workshop on Madrasa, Modernity and Islamic Education, CURA, Boston UniversityGoogle Scholar.

17 Srimulyani, Eka (2008). ‘Negotiating Public Sphere: Three Nyai Generations in a Jombang Pesantren’ in Blackburn, S., Smith, B. and Syamsiyatun, S. (eds), Indonesian Islam in a New Era: How Women Negotiate Their Muslim Identities, Monash University Press, Clayton, p. 120Google Scholar.

18 Azra and Afrianty, ‘Pesantren and Madrasa’, p. 2. The Ministry of Religious Affairs established the Directorate of Madrasah in the early 1970s and the Directorate of Pesantren in 2001 to supervise both madrasas and pesantren.

19 Bagian Perencanaan dan Data Setditjen Pendidikan Islam Kementrian Agama RI (2010). Buku Saku Statistik Ditjend PENDIS 2009/2010, <http://www.pendis.kemenag.go.id/index.php?a=artikel&id2=buku-saku>, [accessed 14 November 2013].

20 Bagian Perencanaan dan Data Setditjen Pendidikan Islam Kementrian Agama RI, Buku Saku Statistik Ditjend PENDIS 2009/2010.

21 Winkelmann, Marieke J. (2005). From Behind the Curtain: A Study of Girls’ Madrasa in India, Amsterdam University Press, AmsterdamCrossRefGoogle Scholar; Winkelmann, Marieke J. (2006). ‘Informal links: A girls’ madrasa and Tablighi Jama’at’, ISIM Review, Spring 17, pp. 46–47Google Scholar.

22 Winkelmann, From Behind the Curtain, p. 55; Winkelmann, ‘Informal links’, p. 46. Though ties are informal, most outsiders assume that these educational institutions belong to the Tablighi Jama’at due to the affiliation of people in the educational institutions with the movement.

23 See Winkelmann, From Behind the Curtain; Winkelmann, ‘Informal links’.

24 Winkelmann, ‘Informal links’, p. 46.

25 Gamis/‘abāya/jubah are often used interchangeably. Some women prefer the term jubah over gamis or ‘abāya. They argue that gamis and ‘abāya are less loose than jubah. Jubah is also used to refer to a man's ankle-length garment. Since jubah is a more neutral term, which is also used to designate a man's outfit, in this paper I prefer to use the term ‘abāya to refer to a woman's wrap.

26 See Aziz, , ‘The Jamaah Tabligh movement in Indonesia’; Azra, Azyumardi (2006). Indonesia, Islam, and Democracy: Dynamics in a Global Context, Solstice, JakartaGoogle Scholar.

27 Mawlana Muḧammad Ilyas himself was a follower of several Sufi orders, namely Chishtiyya, Suhrawardiyya, Qadiriyya, and Naqshbandiyya. See Gaborieu, Marc (2006). ‘What is left of Sufism in Tablīghī Jamā‘at?’, Archives de Sciences Sociales des Religions, 135, p. 57Google Scholar; Ali, ‘Tablīgh Jamā‘at: A transnational movement of Islamic faith regeneration’, p. 107.

28 Farish A. Noor mentions the date of Abdussobur's arrival as 1984. See Noor, ‘The spread of the Tablighi Jama’at’, p. 41.

29 See, for example, the reports of students from the Philippines who studied at Pondok Pesantren Al-Fatah about the development of kerja da’wa (Tablighi activities) in their home country, in Muhammad Harits, Saifulloh Manado and Abu Kholid (2007). ‘Ketika Amanillah menjadi Manila’, al-Madinah, February 8, pp. 38–41.

30 See Bagian Perencanaan dan Data Setditjen Pendidikan Islam Kementrian Agama RI, Buku Saku Statistik Ditjend PENDIS.

31 The tuition fees vary. Those who are able to afford it pay the full tuition fee which, during my fieldwork, was Rp. 200.000 (AUD$22.17) per month. Those who cannot afford the full tuition fee can pay as much as they are able to, and there is no limitation on this; and the tuition fee is waived for orphans who cannot afford to pay fees. As a comparison, some well-managed pondok pesantren may cost nearly AUD$100—the monthly tuition fee for Pondok Pesantren Darunnajah Jakarta in 2011, for example, was Rp. 829.000 (AUD$ 91.89).

32 See also Winkelmann, From Behind the Curtain, p. 39. This link relates to the presence of some terrorists in some Indonesian pesantren. Although the number of pesantren that support militant understandings of Islam is very low, the belief that such pesantren are hubs of terrorism has increased post-9/11. See Noor, ‘Ngruki revisited’; Nilan, Pam (2009). ‘The “spirit of education” in Indonesian Pesantren’, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 30:2, pp. 219–232CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hasan, Noorhaidi (2010). ‘The failure of the Wahhabi campaign: Transnational Islam and the Salafi madrasa in post-9/11 Indonesia’, South East Asia Research, 18:4, pp. 675–705Google Scholar; Tan, Islamic Education and Indoctrination.

33 Winkelmann, From Behind the Curtain, p. 47.

34 All the names of the informants have been changed (except those of the heads of the pesantren) to preserve confidentiality.

35 The minimum requirement (niṣāb) for khurūj for male Tablighis in Indonesia is three days in a month, 40 days in a year, two to four months in their lifetime. Religious scholars are expected to perform khurūj for one year in their lifetime.

36 This is different from the subjects taught in Madrasatul Niswan in Delhi, which teaches only religious subjects (see Winkelmann, 2005, p. 47).

37 Kitab kuning (yellow books) refers to classical Arabic texts of Islamic law, theology or mysticism. For a very interesting study on kitab kuning, see van Bruinessen, Martin (1990). ‘Kitab kuning: Books in Arabic script used in the pesantren milieu’, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde, 146:2/3, pp. 226–269CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

38 See also Rabasa, Angel (2006). ‘Islamic education in Southeast Asia’, Current Trends in Islamist Ideology, 2, p. 101Google Scholar; Kull, Ann (2009). ‘At the forefront of a post-patriarchal Islamic education: female teachers in Indonesia’, Journal of International Women's Studies, 11:1, p. 25Google Scholar.

39 Winkelmann, From Behind the Curtain, p. 53.

40 Masturohan is a term used to identify khurūj training for women.

41 See, for example, Rashid, Tahmina (2006). ‘Radical Islamic movements: Gender construction in Jamaat-i-Islami and Tabligh-i- Jamaat in Pakistan’, Strategic Analysis, 30:2, p. 357Google Scholar.

42 ‘The introduction’ means an introduction to the work of da’wa in Tablighi Jama’at.

43 Noor, ‘The spread of the Tablighi Jama’at’, p. 42.

44 In addition to this, female students also cannot attend international jord pelajar (student gatherings) held in other countries as they are open only to male students. This is because one of the aims of this meeting is to enable people in Tablighi to send these young male students to perform da’wa at least once during their weekend.

45 Rozario, Santi (2006). ‘The new burqa in Bangladesh: Empowerment or violation of women's rights?’, Women's Studies International Forum, 29, p. 371CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

46 Quoted in Sikand, ‘Women and the Tablighi Jama‘at’, pp. 46–47.

47 Fitna literally means infatuation, riot, trial, scandal, and disgrace. In the context of the link between the outward appearance of women and fitna, it means that improperly dressed females can provoke sexual temptation, which threatens order and stability. See Sikand, ‘Women and the Tablighi Jama‘at’, p. 47.

48 Maḥram haqiqi is a term used among Tablighis to refer especially to a husband.

49 Levitt, Peggy (2006). ‘God needs no passport: Trying to define the new boundaries of belonging’, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, 34:3Google Scholar, <http://www.hds.harvard.edu/news-events/harvard-divinity-bulletin/articles/god-needs-no-passport>, (accessed on 14 November 2013).

50 Literally: ‘God is pure from all faults/all glory be to God’.

51 Metcalf, Barbara (1996). ‘Islam and women: The case of the Tablighi Jama’at’, SEHR, 5:1, p. 7Google Scholar.

52 This language barrier is also an issue when foreign Tablighis come to Indonesia for mastura khurūj. Usually when there is a ta‘līm (reciting some Tablighi books, especially Faḍā’il al-A‘māl) led by a foreign Tablighi, then someone will sit next to her and act as an interpreter and communicate with her about the passage that she is going to read. The interpreter will also provide information about the passage to those following the ta‘līm.