The slow conversion to a new world religion

Throughout their recorded history, the Javanese have combined an openness to new ideas with cultural sophistication, a penchant for leaving behind literary sources of value to historians, and a fortunate location.

This openness to new ideas has included the replacement of a combination of Hinduism and indigenous faiths by Islam at a time when Islam was already past its prime in most of the world. This book does not tell why the Javanese converted, but chronicles religious development at the courts in Central Java on the basis of literary sources and colonial documents.

The literary sources leave some aspects to be desired. A tropical climate is harsh on the written word and the Javanese language has changed a lot. In Hindu times, the Javanese had turned the Indian classics into a work of their own. The original structure remained, but the content was changed to meet the local situation.

Muslims, likely indigenous, had been present at the Majapahit court in the 14th century, but there was no wholesale conversion until the 16th century. The Muslim visitor Ma Huan, who worked for admiral Zheng He, found no indigenous Muslims, but lots of Muslim merchants from overseas, including many Chinese. The 16th century Portuguese visitor Tomé Pires reported foreign Muslims becoming Javanese and Javanese becoming Muslims. The two late 16th century Islamic books from Java (primbons) that remain to us convey an orthodox Sufi message. Sufism would predominate in the history of Islam in Java.

Both Western and Javanese sources consider Agung, the first sultan of Mataram, as a pious Muslim, who, on the other hand was also married to Ratu Kidul, a Javanese princess considered goddess of the South Sea. As such Agung, as Java's pre-eminent ruler, incorporates Javanese and Islamic identities. His pilgrimage after defeat in Batavia produces various literary works about Alexander the Great, Muhamed and Jesus, and others, all combining Javanese elements into an essentially Islamic story. Another story describes a Javanese monarch as a pious and ascetic Sufi warrior.

After Agung's death, Islamisation was attenuated. The new king rarely attended mosque services and cared little about Islamic prohibitions and slaughtered Islamic leaders. Still, the Javanese had a strong Islamic identity. An insurrection against Amangkurat I could only be repressed with the infidel East India Company. Amangkurat II called the governor-general "father". The court was "protected" by a Company fort. This alliance with the infidels was held against him and his successors. An Islamic identity was shaped by the court's enemies. Pusakas, ritual heirlooms with supernatural powers, remained important as spiritual underpinning for the sultans (and still do). On the death of the King, the princes came to kiss his penis, according to one story. A radiant light (p.168) passed supernatural legitimacy on to his brother in an event hinting back at the time of Senopati.

The rise to the throne of the 16 year-old Pakubuwana II in 1726 brought a new round of Islamisation, encouraged by his blind pious Sufi grandmother, "the amulet of the people of the island of Java". She also wrote various books related to Islam. Still, in the Serat Cabolek we see Javanese syncretism at work, when the author maintains that all Islamic mystical knowledge can be found in books from the age of Hinduism. Pakubuwana II's reign was hectic, with conflicts within as well as with the Company. When he was temporarily ousted from Kartasura, he supposedly went to Gunung Lawu for divine inspiration. This mountain is the home of Hindu temples and autochthonous spirit forces, the home of a wind god that was associated with the powers of sexuality. Still, his capital was sacked and he could return to power with the help of the Company only. He handed over influential Islamisers to the Company.

In 1755 Mataram was split up into two realms, introducing a period of new prosperity, also culturally. The split up was brokered by Turk, claiming to negotiate on behalf of the Ottoman sultan. It was a period of greater Sufi political activism and increased incorporation of Java in the greater Islamic world. The growing encroachment of European colonial powers was seen as an issue for the future of Islam in the region. For the Company it was an age of retrenchment. The waning organisation was on the wane as corrupt, inefficient, nepotistic and overextended. At the courts a lot of religious works were translated from Arabic or Malay. Still Vishnu, Krishna and other Hindu gods appeared in some religious works, if only as a comparison. In 1814, the Sepoys brought by Raffles who feared to be left behind after the return of the Dutch collaborated with Solo's Pakubuwana IV. They used religion as a channel to the king, who lent them Hindu-Buddhist statues in the court's possession. Pakubuwana IV had earlier presented himself as pious Sufi in various literary works.

In the great late 18th century story Centhini, the ulama are depicted comically and the mystical kyais respectfully. This reflects the dominant mode of mystical synthesis. The Centhini, a book full of heroic and sexual adventures, supports old-fashioned Javanistic speculation against the more orthodox interpretation of Islam. The book reveals a substantial knowledge of major works of Islamic literature, but Kangjeng Nyai Rara Kidul plays a role from early on also. Hinduism and Christianity also appear. The 19th century brought new Dutch assertiveness and a willingness to reform Java, including the overthrow of a decadent native ancien regime. After meditation at the Goa Secang in Bantul, the insurrective Prince Diponegara rallied religious leaders, but developed a liking for both white and red wine. He also recommended Hindu books to his younger brother Hamengkubuwana IV.

Mr. Ricklef sees mysticism as an "ecumenical genius", necessary to reconcile Islam with the earlier Hindu-Buddhist faith. Islam presented a world were humans occupied a phenomenal created world that was real and which they hoped to escape through salvation. Hinduism and Buddhism posited an immanent divinity and a world that was unreal, an illusion created by human ignorance and misunderstanding. At the core of mysticism was the searching inner life of the mystic. The essence of Javanese sufism was the doctrine of nonduality of being Javanese and being Muslim. This nonduality was used for all aspects of the Javanese Weltanschauung. ( )