Abstract
This chapter examines the place of the fasting month of Ramadan in Islamic discourse,religious practice and experience in Yogyakarta.
Abu Hurairah relates that the Holy Prophet said: When Ramadan arrives the gates of Paradise are opened and the gates of hell locked up and the setan are put in chains (Bukhari and Muslim).
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Notes
- 1.
M. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam (3 volumes). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977. Viewed from the perspective of the early Muslim tradition the Qur’an, Hadith and other elements of Universalist Islam can be understood as historically and culturally situated. However, from the perspective of contemporary Muslim communities they are scriptural constants which are not subject to growth, development and change in the same way that locally defined modes of religious belief and practice are. Given the fact that Muslim communities understand the scriptural tradition as a “given,” the historical contexts of its development is of relatively little consequence for understanding the faith and practice of contemporary communities. While conservative Indonesian Muslim scholars are concerned with the context of revelation, in the case of the Qur’an, and the contexts in which the Prophet Muhammad spoke or acted in the case of the Hadith, as well as with the context of transmission, historical criticism of the Quranic text meets with fierce resistance. Modernists and Islamist tend to reject even the limited historicization of the Quranic text, though they are quick to reject Hadith the content of which they disapprove on theological grounds as “inauthentic” or “questionable.” Feminist scholars are the most likely to employ modernist and post-modernist hermeneutics.
- 2.
N. Madjid, “Penghayatan Makna Ibadah Puasa Sebagai Pendidikan Tentang Kesucian serta Tanggung Jawab Pribadi dan Kemasyarakatan.” in Budhy Munawar-Rachman (ed) Kontekstualisasi Doktrin Islam Dalam Sejarah. Jakarta, Yayasan Wakaf Paramadina, 1994, pp. 411–422. M. Buitelaar, Fasting and Feasting in Morocco. Women’s Participation in Ramadan. Oxford: Berg, 1993.
- 3.
Madjid mentions an Arabic source, Hikmat al-Tasyri’ wa Falsafatuhu by Syeikh ‘Ali Ahmad al-Jurhawi, Beirut, Dar alFikr, n.d., pp. 233–234 as support for this position. Buitelaar makes similar observations concerning the importance of the fast of Ramadan in Morocco. She argues that Moroccan Muslims are particularly concerned with the fast and it role in the global Muslim community because of their location on the western edge of the Islamic world. She suggests a connection between the geo-political location of Morocco on the borders of the Islamic world and the importance of the fast as a marker of Islamic identity. If this interpretation is correct it may help to explain the importance of the fast in Indonesia which is located on the eastern border of the Islamic world and where observance of the rites of Ramadan is clearly understood as a marker of Muslim identity.
- 4.
The other is Id al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice at which Muslims sacrifice goats and other animals to commemorate the Prophet Ibrahim’s (Abraham) willingness to sacrifice his son. This rite is an integral part of the Hajj but unlike other components of the pilgrimage to Mecca, is performed throughout the Muslim world. Among the Habib, Malays of Hadrami Arab descent, of east Sumatra it is called Lebaran Hajj. In Java, and in Indonesia more generally, even non-Muslims celebrate the Id because it is a national as well as religious holiday.
- 5.
In Muslims through Discourse, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993, John Bowen has shown that similar questions of ritual detail are basic to the distinction between traditionalist and modernist Islams among the Gayo of North Sumatra. Many Javanese Muslims maintain that even given convergence within the Muslim community on issues concerning politics, the economy and social welfare, that there is little, if any, sign that divisions concerning ritual practice are diminishing, but simply that they are not worth fighting about. It is now a live and let live stand off rather than a life and death struggle for the heart and soul of Javanese Islam. Today, the most salient division within the santri community is that between traditionalists and modernists who have somewhat different views of the relationship between Agama Islam and Kebudayaan Islam and neo-Wahhabis who seek to replace Javanese Islamic culture with a new Wahhabi-Arab inspired bricolage. This new bifurcation with the Javanese Muslim community is described in the conclusion to this chapter.
- 6.
A. Moller, “Islam and Traweh Prayers in Java: Unity, Diversity and Cultural Smoothness,” Indonesia and the Malay World, vol. 33, No. 6, 2005, pp. 1–20.
- 7.
M. Eliade, The Myth of the Eternal Return or, Cosmos and History. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1954, pp. 49–73.
- 8.
Ibid., pp. 58.
- 9.
V. Turner, The Ritual Process. Structure and Anti-Structure. New York: Aldine Publishing Company, 1969, pp. 94–130.
- 10.
Op. cit., pp. 159–177.
- 11.
When I contracted Hepatitis shortly before the beginning of Ramadan in 2008 many Javanese and Malay friends told me that fasting would help me to recover more quickly. Some advised me to fast during the day and drink jamu at night. My doctor told me that I would not feel like eating and that fasting would be easy and to get plenty of rest, which would also be easy.
- 12.
For an English summary of this text see C. Berg “Sawm” in H. Gibb and J. Kramers, Shorter Encyclopedia of Islam, Leiden:E.J. Brill, 1974.
- 13.
The Shafi’i legal texts commonly used in Indonesia state that the intention to fast must be formulated prior to dawn on each day of the month. Conservative Muslims insist that the statement of intent be verbally articulated, while modernists maintain that it should be formulated in the heart. See Ahmad ibn Maqib al-Misri, ‘Umdat al-salik (The Reliance of the Traveller. A Classical Manual of Islamic Sacred Law.) Translation by N. Keller, Evanston: Sunna Books, 1991 p 277. Many Javanese Muslims formulate an intention to fast for the entire month, or for a specific number of days on the final day of Shaban and repeat it prior to dawn on the days of Ramadan during which they plan to fast.
- 14.
For a detailed discussion of these regulations refer to ‘Umdat al-salik op. cit., pp. 299–296.
- 15.
For a discussion of these and other similar questions see T. Shu’aib, Essentials of Ramadan, The Fasting Month. Los Angeles: Islamic Book Center, 1991. The author of this work is a native of Nigeria, who was educated in Medina and currently resides in the United States. Similar issues arise in Indonesian texts. The modernist organization Muhammadiyah has stated that swallowing pills and other medicines breaks the fast even if ordered by a qualified Muslim doctor, and that diabetics are not able to conduct the fast at all because of the medical necessity of eating several times per day. See Tim PP Muhammadiyah Majlis Tarjij, Tanya-Jawab Agama. Yogyakarta: Penerbit Suara Muhammadiyah, 1992, p. 150.
- 16.
A common joke among Indonesian students at the University of Wisconsin is the question: “Why are there no Muslims in Alaska?” to which the reply is “They would starve when Ramadan comes in June!” Even in Madison, where the sun does not set until nearly ten at night, the fast can be quite difficult when it fall in the summer months.
- 17.
For an English translation of this work see Ak-Haj Maulana Fazal-Ul-Karim (translator) Imam Gazzali’s IhyA’ ‘Ulum-Ud-Din (The Revival of Religious Learning Books I&II). Lahore: Kazi Publications, nd., 222–231.
- 18.
Many contemporary Javanese Muslims comment on the time consuming character of this ritual complex. One friend explained that given everything that must be done before and after Ramadan, it was mistaken to think of it as the “Fasting Month.” He said “A month and a half, maybe even 2 months, that would be more like it.”
- 19.
Turner, op. cit., pp. 94
- 20.
See A. Wensinck, “Sha’ban”, in: SIE p. 508.
- 21.
Bukhari 30., 53.
- 22.
See Wensinck, op. cit., p. 508 and Muhaimin, op. cit., p. 185.
- 23.
Modernists, of course, do not visit graves at this or any other time.
- 24.
The view that food should be prepared for and offered to the dead is also common among Sufi orders in South Asia. An eighteenth century manual for the veneration of Chisti saints entitled “Introduction to the Treasury of Death Anniversaries” states: “Know seeker of God that the perfectly guided ones, sincere disciples and trustworthy adherents out to present food to the spirits of the elders, their masters, and their guides, as much as possible without objection. Thus by their blessing, the benefits and good fortune of both worlds are increased.” translation by Carl Ernst in “An Indo-Persian Guide to Sufi Shrine Pilgrimage.” ms. n.d.
- 25.
For a discussion of the punishments and pleasures of the grave see J. Smith and Y. Hadad, The Islamic Understanding of Death and Resurrection. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1981, pp. 31–62.
- 26.
See ‘Umdat al-salik op. cit., pp. 929–930. The modernist organization Muhammadiayah takes a different view of the matter particularly with regard to fasting. Their position is that it is not possible for the living to carry out religious obligations for the dead, although in keeping with a literal reading of the Qur’an and Hadith they maintain that it is possible for a child to dedicate the merits of pilgrimage to his/her parents if the parent has formulated the intention to perform the haj but is unable to make the journey to Mecca. See Tim PP Muhammadiyah Majlis Tarjih, op. cit., p. 151.
- 27.
Ironically these letters are sent by the Penghulu or chief ritual official who as a member of Muhammadiyah does not approve of the practice of visiting graves.
- 28.
See Chapter 2.
- 29.
Trance performances play a very important role in Shaban observances in Morocco, for a discussion of these rites see Buitelaar, op. cit., pp. 49–50. While most Javanese informants understood the logic of Pak Mul’s Shaban performance many found it to be highly unusual, if not inappropriate.
- 30.
Many say that is principle one should visit seven springs or holy wells in a single night, but because this is usually not possible the ritual is most often spread over several days. Others say that walking through even one of the moats which surround traditional mosques is sufficient. In 2008 I noticed that some people now simply sprinkle themselves with zam zam water that is available in shops throughout the city.
- 31.
Zam-zam refers to a well located near the Kab’ah in Mecca. Water from this well is often used to break the fast in the great mosque of Mecca. It is believed by many to have curative and other magical powers. Javanese and other pilgrims bring gallons of zam-zam water back from Mecca to share with family, kin and neighbors. In the 1970s zam-zam water was a rare commodity. Today pilgrims bring large pre-packaged containers when the return form Mecca. Small bottles can be purchased at any number of shops that sell Muslim religious items. In Java the term zam-zam is used for holy water in a more general sense. Water from tanks at Imo Giri and that which is left over from the washing of sacred heirlooms (J. pusaka) is often called zam-zam by kejawen Muslims. zama zam water of either variety is often said to have medicinal qualities. See Chapter 2 for details.
- 32.
There are two types of ritual impurity. Minor impurity is caused by “anything that exists from the front or rear private parts”; “loss of the ability to distinguish, whether through insanity, unconsciousness, sleep or other [reason]”; “when any, no matter how little, of the two skins of a man and a woman touch” or “touching human private parts with the palm or the inner surface of the fingers.” One in such a state may not pray, or carry the Qur’an. Minor impurity is removed by ritual ablutions (wudhu) in which the face, arms, head and feet. Major ritual impurity is caused by sexual activity, menstruation and child birth. Restrictions in addition to those required by minor impurity include remaining in a mosque and reciting the Qur’an. For a detailed discussion of these matters see ‘Umdat al-salik op. cit., pp. 49–99.
- 33.
Buitelaar, op. cit., pp. 38–39.
- 34.
See Chapter 3
- 35.
This is correct.
- 36.
Many people feel guilty about doing this and try to avoid being seen drinking, and especially eating.
- 37.
This practice is now common throughout the Muslim world.
- 38.
In 2008 the Islamist political party Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS) made a systematic attempt to “capture” or as many in Yogyakarta put it “steal” Ramadan. Television and print advertisements made much of the party’s offers to provide “reduced price” Iftar meals for the poor. Others, who were not trying to politicize the fast, simply gave them away. For a more detailed account of PKS’s ritual-political strategy see M. Woodward, “Resisting Wahhabi Colonialism in Yogyakarta,” COMOPS Journal, October, 2008.
- 39.
These upscale events are priced at a minimum of five US dollars and in “five star” hotels may cost as much as fifty. They provide opportunities, much like weddings, for political elites to mingle in “non-political” contexts.
- 40.
M. Kahn, Gardens of the Righteous (Rdyadh as-Sahlahin). London: Cruzon, 1975, p. 213
- 41.
Kahn, op. cit., p. 208
- 42.
In addition to offering of rice Shari’ah requires that 2.5% of accumulated wealth be donated to the poor or to religious scholars and institutions. Today many Islamic banks and charitable organizations offer on line and text messages ways to make the contribution. Most people continue to contribute to funds at Local mosque and to poor people directly.
- 43.
One of the most striking examples I observed in Yogyakarta in 1979 was a group of approximately 50 motorcycles ridden by young men dressed in Arabic garb. They followed a jeep equipped with a loudspeaker and chanted in union as the drove (at high speed) through the streets of the city. It would pass almost unnoticed today.
- 44.
I receive, and send, several hundred such e-mails every year.
- 45.
Republika, October 12, 2008.
- 46.
This account is based on fieldwork conducted in 1979. I refer to them both in the past tense because both men are now deceased.
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Woodward, M. (2011). The Fast of Ramadan in Yogyakarta. In: Java, Indonesia and Islam. Muslims in Global Societies Series, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0056-7_6
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