The Pseudo-Sufi Order in Contemporary Indonesia: A New Prototype of Philosophical Sufism among Majelis Shalawat and Urban Muslims in East Java Urban Muslim

Abstract

This article examines the phenomenon of the pseudo-Sufi order within the landscape of  urban sufism focusing on three groups in Surabaya, East Java: Majelis Shalawat Kubro, Majelis Shalawat Muhammad, and Majelis Shalawat Adlimiyah. It finds that the principal elements, Sufi practices, and doctrines of these groups cannot be fully classified within the broader spectrum of similar phenomena found in many majelis taklim, majelis dhikr, or majelis shalawat. The article argues that the dynamics of these three groups is an important clue for the birth of a prototype of new pseudo sufi-order. They adopt the principal elements of a Sufi order, namely sanad, lelaku or riyadha, rabita or suhba, zuhd and so forth which are generally absent from many other pseudo-Sufi orders. The three majelis shalawat teach the doctrines of haqiqa and ma'rifa together with the perspectives of Ibn al-'Arabi and other mystical thinkers and other mystical thinkers of monistic tradition such as, Abu Yazid al-Bustami, Abd Karim al-Jilli and so on, closely associated with the doctrines of wahdat al-wujud, ittihad, hulul, and tajalli Nur Muhammad. While this doctrine is primarily speculative and polemical in nature, these three majelis have recontextualized it into a practical anthropocentric framework that responds effectively to social issues.