By: saddam husain
For the very first time Islam came to Indonesia, it faced many cultures and rituals that had been grown for centuries. “Kapitayan” had been believed as the first religion in this country. In 1295 the Majapahit Hindu kingdom established and dominated Java Island. At that time the asceticism had been accepted as the mainstream for all Indonesian in universal and java in particular. Culture and ritual dimensions became the distinctive feature of Indonesia. Majapahit kingdom was destroyed in 1478 and followed by the rise of Islamic sultanates in java especially in Demak. That was the stepping stone for Islamiation of Indonesia.
The islamization process in Indonesia was hampered by many aspects, for example culture and believe. Because of the fundamental princip of Islam is monotheism whereas the old religion is polytheism, Islam was difficult to be developed. Fortunately, a receptive character of Islam that could acculturate with the native custom, behavior and culture this last religion might grow and dominate Indonesia. As a result, Islam and culture in Indonesia are acculturated and assimilated each other.
It has been claimed that culture and religion are the same. They work together to enrich human spirituality. In Islam for instance, there are many traditional rituals believed as apart of religious liturgies like “passili” for pregnant mother in Makassar, “Islam kejawen” and “slametan” in Java, they are Hindu-Budha inheritances adopted and believed as part of Islam.
However, Islam is a religion and culture is a culture. They have their own orientation, and they must be distinct. When culture believed as a part of religious liturgy, it will be wrong because it’s believed that Islam as religion has been perfect. The only two books as the axioms to teach Muslims in praying are Holy qur’an and Hadist. Furthermore, in modern Islam culture does not have sacred value anymore, it’s no longer part of religion and it’s not more than traditional activity.
In conclution, islam is monotheism religion that teaches human to belive the only One God namely “Allah“ through its holy book, Qur’an and prophet’s instruction, hadist. Islam with its Tauhidbrings a mission to devaluate or desacrelize the traditional faith and myths so that people may distinguish which one is religion and which one is culture.In term of historical remains culture could exist to enrich and color Indonesia’s existence in the world.
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