Sharia as Local Theology: Reflection on Acehnese Culture and Identity
Abstract
This article elucidates local theology, which encapsulates in the work of shari’a in Acehnese contexts. The argument of this article is grounded in the Acehnese historical epochs in which Acehnese cultural identity were formulated. I argue that Acehnese shari’a is the set of local rituals, beliefs and ideas as the production of local interpretation of Islam, which responds to local cultural identity. That version of Islam works as local theology, which embodies sacred and divine values and is perceived as local identity and ideology. Building on Tibi’s, Salim’s and Nuim’s argument on shari’a and Hall’s perspective on identity and ideology, I examine the work of shari’a in Acehnese historical times, and its relation to Acehnese culture and ideology. There are four indications that shari’a holds central role in formulating the Acehnese theology, where local cultural identity and ideology are seen as part of Islamic religiosity, namely the process of Islamization of Southeast Asia, the function of local Islamic traditional boarding education (dayah), the distribution of local power, and the work of local arts.
Keywords:
Shari’a, Islamization, local theology, Acehnese, Culture, Identity
References
Aceh Institute, FDT Budaya. "Problematika Kebudayaan di Aceh." Aceh Institute, 2008.
Andaya, Leonard Y. "Aceh's Contribution to Standards of Malayness." Archipel 61 (2001): 29-88.
Aspinall, Edward. Islam and Nation : Separatist Rebellion in Aceh, Indonesia. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2009.
———. "Violence and Identity Formation in Aceh under Indonesian Rule." In Verandah of Violence: The Historical Background of the Aceh Problem, edited by Anthony Reid. Singapore, Seattle: Singapore University Press, University of Washington Press, 2007.
Azra, Azyumardi. "The Globalization of Indonesian Muslim Discourse: Contemporary Religio-Intellectual Connections between Indonesia and the Middle East." In Islam in the Era of Globalization: Muslim Attitudes Towards Modernity and Identity, edited by Johan Meuleman, 31-50. London: Routledge Curzon, 2002.
———. "Indonesian Islam, Mainstream Muslims, and Politics." In Taiwanese and Indonesian Islamic Leaders Exchange Project: The Asia Foundation in Taiwan, 2006.
———. Islam in Southeast Asia: Tolerance and Radicalism. CSCI Islamic Issues Briefing Paper Series. Vol. 1, Melbourne: Centre for the Study of Contemporary Islam, 2006.
———. The Origin of Islamic Reformism in Southeast Asia; Networks of Malay-Indonesian and Middle Eastern 'Ulama' in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2004.
Bruinessen, Martin van. "Traditionalist and Islamist Pesantrens in Contemporary Indonesia." In The Madrasa in Asia Political Activism and Transnational Linkages, edited by Yoginder Sikand, Farish A. Noor, Martin van Bruinessen, 217-246. Amsterdam: ISIM, Amsterdam University Press, 2008.
Cammack, Mark. "Indonesia's 1989 Religious Judicature Act: Islamization of Indonesia or Indonesianization of Islam?". In Shari'a and Politics in Modern Indonesia, edited by Arskal Salim and Azyumardi Azra, 96-124. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asia Studies, 2003.
Dhuhri, Saifuddin. "Peusijuek; Sebuah Tradisi Ritual Sosial Masyarakat Pasee dalam Perspektif Traditionalis dan Reformis." In International Conference on Aceh and Indian Ocean Studies II Civil Conflict and Its Remedies, 1-27. Banda Aceh: Asian Research Institute, 2009.
———. "Pendidikan Islam Traditional Aceh: Sejarah Perkembangan Dayah." In Generasi Baru Peneliti Muslim Indonesia, Mencari Ilmu di Australia, Kumpulan Makalah Dosen Penguruan Tinggi Islam Indonesia Peserta Program Pertii 2004-2006, 261-280. Kingston, Australia: Australia-Indonesia Institute, 2008.
Feener, Michael. "Social Engineering through Shari'a: Islamic Law and State-Directed Da'wa in Contemporary Aceh." Islamic Law and Society 19, no. 2012 (2012): 275-311.
Feener, Michael, Patrick Daly, and Anthony Reid, eds. Mapping the Acehnese Past. Leiden: KITLV Press, 2011.
Giroux, Henry A. Pedagogy and the Politic of Hope: Meow, Culture and Schooling (a Critical Reader). Colorado, Oxford: Westview Press, 1997.
Hall, Stuart. "Cultural Identity and Diaspora." In Identity, edited by J. Rutherford. London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1990.
———. "Gramsci’s Relevance for the Study of Race and Ethnicity." In Stuart Hall: Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies, edited by David Morley and Kuan-Hsing Chen, 1-17. USA, Canada: the Taylor & Francis, 2005.
———. "Introduction: Who Needs Identity? ." In Questions of Cultural Identity, edited by Stuart Hall and Paul Du Gay. London, 1996.
———, ed. Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London. Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publishions, 1997.
———. "The Spectacle of the 'Other'." In Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, edited by Stuart Hall, 223-290. London. Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publishions, 1997.
———. "The White of Their Eyes: Racist Ideologies and Media." In The Media Reader, edited by Alvarado M and Thompson J., 18-22. London: BFI, 1990.
———. "The Work of Representation." In Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, edited by Stuart Hall, 13-74. London. Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publishions, 1997.
Hasjmy, Ali. Bungga Rampai Revolusi Dari Tanah Aceh. Jakarta: CV. Bulan Bintang, 1978.
Hurgronje, Snouck. The Acehnese. Translated by A. W. S. O'SULLIVAN. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1906.
Ichwan, Moch. Nur. "The Politics of Shari'atization: Central Governmental and Regional Discourses of Shari'a Implementation in Aceh." In Islamic Law in Contemporary Indonesia: Ideas and Institutions, edited by Michael Feener and Mark Cammack, 96-124. Islamic Legal Studies Program. Boston: Harvard University Press, 2007.
Idria, Reza. "Cultural Resistance to Shariatism in Aceh." In Regime Change, Democracy and Islam: The Case of Indonesia, Final Report Islam Research Programme edited by Kees van Dijk, 180-201. Jakarta: Universiteit Leiden, 2013.
Iskandar, Teuku. "Aceh as a Muslim-Malay Cultural Centre (14th-19th Century)." In International Conference of Aceh and Indian Ocean Studies, 1-23. Banda Aceh, 2007.
Ismail, Nurjannah. "Syari’at Islam dan Keadilan Gender." In First International Conference of Aceh and Indian Ocean Studies, 1-18. Banda Aceh, 2006.
Kartomi, Margaret J. "The Development of the Acehnese Sitting Song-dances and Frame Drum Genres as Part of Religious Conversation and Continuing Piety." Bijdragen tot de Taal 166, no. 1 (2010): 83-106.
———."If a Man Can Kill a Bufallo with One Blow He Can Play a Rapa'i Pasé: How the Frame Drum Expresses Facets of Acehnese Identity." Journal of Chinese Ritual, Theatre and Folkore No. 144 (June, 2004): 39-88.
Muhammad, Rusjdi Ali. Revitalisasi Syari'at Islam di Aceh: Problem, Solusi dan Implementasi. Jakarta: Logos, 2003.
Mwenesi, Leonard Charles. How Is Art and Art Education Relevant for the Construction of a Tanzanian National Cultural Identity within the Context of a Hegemonic Globalism?. Alberta: University of Alberta, 1998.
Prang, Amrizal J. Aceh Dari Konflik Ke Damai. Banda Aceh: Bandar Publishing, 2008.
Qordhawy, Yusof. Madkhal Lidarāsah al-Sharī'ah al-Islāmiyah. Jazair: Muassah al-Risālah, 1990.
Reid, Anthony. Imperial Alchemy: Nationalism and Political Identity in Southeast Asia.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
———. "The Islamization of Southeast Asia." In Historia: Essays in Commemoration of the 25th Anniversary Od Department of History, University of Malaya, edited by M. Abu Bakar, A. Kaur, and A.Z. Ghazali, 13-33. Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Historical Society, 1994.
———. "War, Peace, and the Burden of History in Aceh." Asian Ethnicity 5, no. 3 (2010): 301-314.
Ricci, Ronit. Islam Translated: Literature, Conversion, and the Arabic Cosmopolis of South and Southeast Asia. London: The University of Chicago Press, 2011.
Riddell, Peter. "Aceh in the Sixtenth and Seventeenth Centuries: 'Serambi Mekkah' and Identity." In Verandah of Violence: The Historical Background of the Aceh Problem, edited by Anthony Reid, 38-51. Singapore, Seattle: Singapore University Press, University of Washington Press, 2006.
Said, H. Mohammad. Aceh Sepanjang Abad. Medan: Waspada, 1981.
Saleh, Fauzan. Modern Trends in Islamic Theological Discourse in 20th Century Indonesia: A Critical Survey. Leiden: Brill, 2001.
Salim, Arskal. Challenging the Secular State, the Islamization of Law in Modern Indonesia. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2008.
———. "Shari'a from Below’ in Aceh (1930s-1960s): Islamic Identity and the Right to Self-Determination with Comparative Reference to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) ". Indonesia and the Malay World 32, no. 92 (2004): 80-99.
Siegel, James. T. The Rope of God. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969.
Smith, Holly Susan. Aceh : Art and Culture. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Takeshi, Ito. "The World of the Adat Aceh, a Historical Study of the Sultanate of Aceh." Australian National University, 1984.
Tibi, Bassam. Islam between Culture and Politics. New York: Palgrave 2001.
———. "John Kelsay and 'Sharia Reasoning' in Just War in Islam: An Appreciation and a Few Propositions." Journal of Church and State, Winter, no. 53, 1 (2011): 4-26.
Tiro, Tengku Hasan. "The Drama of Achehnese History : 1873-1978 : A Play in Viii Acts." Ministry of Education, State of Acheh, 1979.
———. "The Price of Freedom: The Unfinished Diary of Tengku Hasan Di Tiro." National Liberation Front of Acheh Sumatra, 1984.
Willmot, Fadhullah. "Syariah di Aceh: Solusi Atau Masalah?" In Accord; Rekonfigurasi Politik: Proses Perdamaian Aceh, edited by Aguswandi and Judith Large, 84-88. London: Conciliation Resources, 2008.
Yatim, Othman Mohammad. Batu Aceh: Early Islamic Gravestones in Peninsular Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: Museum Association of Malaysia, 1988.
Zainuddin, H.M. Tarich Atjeh dan Nusantara. Medan: Pustaka Iskandar Muda, 1961.
Andaya, Leonard Y. "Aceh's Contribution to Standards of Malayness." Archipel 61 (2001): 29-88.
Aspinall, Edward. Islam and Nation : Separatist Rebellion in Aceh, Indonesia. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2009.
———. "Violence and Identity Formation in Aceh under Indonesian Rule." In Verandah of Violence: The Historical Background of the Aceh Problem, edited by Anthony Reid. Singapore, Seattle: Singapore University Press, University of Washington Press, 2007.
Azra, Azyumardi. "The Globalization of Indonesian Muslim Discourse: Contemporary Religio-Intellectual Connections between Indonesia and the Middle East." In Islam in the Era of Globalization: Muslim Attitudes Towards Modernity and Identity, edited by Johan Meuleman, 31-50. London: Routledge Curzon, 2002.
———. "Indonesian Islam, Mainstream Muslims, and Politics." In Taiwanese and Indonesian Islamic Leaders Exchange Project: The Asia Foundation in Taiwan, 2006.
———. Islam in Southeast Asia: Tolerance and Radicalism. CSCI Islamic Issues Briefing Paper Series. Vol. 1, Melbourne: Centre for the Study of Contemporary Islam, 2006.
———. The Origin of Islamic Reformism in Southeast Asia; Networks of Malay-Indonesian and Middle Eastern 'Ulama' in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2004.
Bruinessen, Martin van. "Traditionalist and Islamist Pesantrens in Contemporary Indonesia." In The Madrasa in Asia Political Activism and Transnational Linkages, edited by Yoginder Sikand, Farish A. Noor, Martin van Bruinessen, 217-246. Amsterdam: ISIM, Amsterdam University Press, 2008.
Cammack, Mark. "Indonesia's 1989 Religious Judicature Act: Islamization of Indonesia or Indonesianization of Islam?". In Shari'a and Politics in Modern Indonesia, edited by Arskal Salim and Azyumardi Azra, 96-124. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asia Studies, 2003.
Dhuhri, Saifuddin. "Peusijuek; Sebuah Tradisi Ritual Sosial Masyarakat Pasee dalam Perspektif Traditionalis dan Reformis." In International Conference on Aceh and Indian Ocean Studies II Civil Conflict and Its Remedies, 1-27. Banda Aceh: Asian Research Institute, 2009.
———. "Pendidikan Islam Traditional Aceh: Sejarah Perkembangan Dayah." In Generasi Baru Peneliti Muslim Indonesia, Mencari Ilmu di Australia, Kumpulan Makalah Dosen Penguruan Tinggi Islam Indonesia Peserta Program Pertii 2004-2006, 261-280. Kingston, Australia: Australia-Indonesia Institute, 2008.
Feener, Michael. "Social Engineering through Shari'a: Islamic Law and State-Directed Da'wa in Contemporary Aceh." Islamic Law and Society 19, no. 2012 (2012): 275-311.
Feener, Michael, Patrick Daly, and Anthony Reid, eds. Mapping the Acehnese Past. Leiden: KITLV Press, 2011.
Giroux, Henry A. Pedagogy and the Politic of Hope: Meow, Culture and Schooling (a Critical Reader). Colorado, Oxford: Westview Press, 1997.
Hall, Stuart. "Cultural Identity and Diaspora." In Identity, edited by J. Rutherford. London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1990.
———. "Gramsci’s Relevance for the Study of Race and Ethnicity." In Stuart Hall: Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies, edited by David Morley and Kuan-Hsing Chen, 1-17. USA, Canada: the Taylor & Francis, 2005.
———. "Introduction: Who Needs Identity? ." In Questions of Cultural Identity, edited by Stuart Hall and Paul Du Gay. London, 1996.
———, ed. Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London. Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publishions, 1997.
———. "The Spectacle of the 'Other'." In Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, edited by Stuart Hall, 223-290. London. Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publishions, 1997.
———. "The White of Their Eyes: Racist Ideologies and Media." In The Media Reader, edited by Alvarado M and Thompson J., 18-22. London: BFI, 1990.
———. "The Work of Representation." In Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, edited by Stuart Hall, 13-74. London. Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publishions, 1997.
Hasjmy, Ali. Bungga Rampai Revolusi Dari Tanah Aceh. Jakarta: CV. Bulan Bintang, 1978.
Hurgronje, Snouck. The Acehnese. Translated by A. W. S. O'SULLIVAN. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1906.
Ichwan, Moch. Nur. "The Politics of Shari'atization: Central Governmental and Regional Discourses of Shari'a Implementation in Aceh." In Islamic Law in Contemporary Indonesia: Ideas and Institutions, edited by Michael Feener and Mark Cammack, 96-124. Islamic Legal Studies Program. Boston: Harvard University Press, 2007.
Idria, Reza. "Cultural Resistance to Shariatism in Aceh." In Regime Change, Democracy and Islam: The Case of Indonesia, Final Report Islam Research Programme edited by Kees van Dijk, 180-201. Jakarta: Universiteit Leiden, 2013.
Iskandar, Teuku. "Aceh as a Muslim-Malay Cultural Centre (14th-19th Century)." In International Conference of Aceh and Indian Ocean Studies, 1-23. Banda Aceh, 2007.
Ismail, Nurjannah. "Syari’at Islam dan Keadilan Gender." In First International Conference of Aceh and Indian Ocean Studies, 1-18. Banda Aceh, 2006.
Kartomi, Margaret J. "The Development of the Acehnese Sitting Song-dances and Frame Drum Genres as Part of Religious Conversation and Continuing Piety." Bijdragen tot de Taal 166, no. 1 (2010): 83-106.
———."If a Man Can Kill a Bufallo with One Blow He Can Play a Rapa'i Pasé: How the Frame Drum Expresses Facets of Acehnese Identity." Journal of Chinese Ritual, Theatre and Folkore No. 144 (June, 2004): 39-88.
Muhammad, Rusjdi Ali. Revitalisasi Syari'at Islam di Aceh: Problem, Solusi dan Implementasi. Jakarta: Logos, 2003.
Mwenesi, Leonard Charles. How Is Art and Art Education Relevant for the Construction of a Tanzanian National Cultural Identity within the Context of a Hegemonic Globalism?. Alberta: University of Alberta, 1998.
Prang, Amrizal J. Aceh Dari Konflik Ke Damai. Banda Aceh: Bandar Publishing, 2008.
Qordhawy, Yusof. Madkhal Lidarāsah al-Sharī'ah al-Islāmiyah. Jazair: Muassah al-Risālah, 1990.
Reid, Anthony. Imperial Alchemy: Nationalism and Political Identity in Southeast Asia.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
———. "The Islamization of Southeast Asia." In Historia: Essays in Commemoration of the 25th Anniversary Od Department of History, University of Malaya, edited by M. Abu Bakar, A. Kaur, and A.Z. Ghazali, 13-33. Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Historical Society, 1994.
———. "War, Peace, and the Burden of History in Aceh." Asian Ethnicity 5, no. 3 (2010): 301-314.
Ricci, Ronit. Islam Translated: Literature, Conversion, and the Arabic Cosmopolis of South and Southeast Asia. London: The University of Chicago Press, 2011.
Riddell, Peter. "Aceh in the Sixtenth and Seventeenth Centuries: 'Serambi Mekkah' and Identity." In Verandah of Violence: The Historical Background of the Aceh Problem, edited by Anthony Reid, 38-51. Singapore, Seattle: Singapore University Press, University of Washington Press, 2006.
Said, H. Mohammad. Aceh Sepanjang Abad. Medan: Waspada, 1981.
Saleh, Fauzan. Modern Trends in Islamic Theological Discourse in 20th Century Indonesia: A Critical Survey. Leiden: Brill, 2001.
Salim, Arskal. Challenging the Secular State, the Islamization of Law in Modern Indonesia. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2008.
———. "Shari'a from Below’ in Aceh (1930s-1960s): Islamic Identity and the Right to Self-Determination with Comparative Reference to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) ". Indonesia and the Malay World 32, no. 92 (2004): 80-99.
Siegel, James. T. The Rope of God. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969.
Smith, Holly Susan. Aceh : Art and Culture. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Takeshi, Ito. "The World of the Adat Aceh, a Historical Study of the Sultanate of Aceh." Australian National University, 1984.
Tibi, Bassam. Islam between Culture and Politics. New York: Palgrave 2001.
———. "John Kelsay and 'Sharia Reasoning' in Just War in Islam: An Appreciation and a Few Propositions." Journal of Church and State, Winter, no. 53, 1 (2011): 4-26.
Tiro, Tengku Hasan. "The Drama of Achehnese History : 1873-1978 : A Play in Viii Acts." Ministry of Education, State of Acheh, 1979.
———. "The Price of Freedom: The Unfinished Diary of Tengku Hasan Di Tiro." National Liberation Front of Acheh Sumatra, 1984.
Willmot, Fadhullah. "Syariah di Aceh: Solusi Atau Masalah?" In Accord; Rekonfigurasi Politik: Proses Perdamaian Aceh, edited by Aguswandi and Judith Large, 84-88. London: Conciliation Resources, 2008.
Yatim, Othman Mohammad. Batu Aceh: Early Islamic Gravestones in Peninsular Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: Museum Association of Malaysia, 1988.
Zainuddin, H.M. Tarich Atjeh dan Nusantara. Medan: Pustaka Iskandar Muda, 1961.
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Published
2015-12-30
How to Cite
Dhuhri, S. (2015). Sharia as Local Theology: Reflection on Acehnese Culture and Identity. Ulumuna, 19(2), 437-462. https://doi.org/10.20414/ujis.v19i2.335
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