Punden as a sacred eco-spiritual space: Oral traditions and Javanese Islam in environmental discourses

Abstract

Punden represents a sacred space deeply embedded in Javanese ecological, spiritual, and social life, yet it remains a contested site within contemporary Islamic discourses. Tensions arise between purificatory interpretations of Islamic orthodoxy that problematize local traditions and Javanese Islamic cosmological practices that sacralize nature through oral traditions and myths. This study examines how these divergent discourses are negotiated and rearticulated in the construction of Punden as an eco-spiritual space. Employing a descriptive qualitative approach, data were collected through interviews, participant observation, and documentation, and analyzed using Michel Foucault’s discourse theory to uncover the power knowledge relations that shape religious and ecological meanings. The findings reveal that Punden functions ecologically as a mechanism for safeguarding natural resources, particularly sacred springs and surrounding vegetation; spiritually as a locus for honoring ancestors and maintaining harmony between humans, nature, and God; and socially as a space for communal rituals such as Dawuhan and Muludan that reinforce social cohesion and cultural continuity. From the perspective of Islamic jurisprudence, this study engages Jasser Auda’s systems-based maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah to demonstrate a dynamic shift from classical anthropocentric maqāsid toward a negotiated ecological orientation. Through this process, the protection of life (ḥifẓ al-nafs) is expanded to encompass environmental sustainability, while the safeguarding of intellect (ḥifẓ al-‘aql), progeny (ḥifẓ al-nasl), and wealth (ḥifẓ al-māl) is rendered inseparable from the preservation of sacred ecological spaces. This negotiated convergence establishes ecological preservation as a shared ethical ground that reconciles normative Islamic principles with local cosmological practices, without dissolving theological boundaries. By integrating Javanese-Islamic cosmology, eco-Sufism, and a dynamic maqāṣid framework, the study affirms that oral traditions and myths operate as discursive instruments that mediate religious authority, transmit ecological ethics, and sacralize the Punden space as a form of lived Islamic piety.