Social traditions and the Islamic purification movement in Indonesia

Abstract

The objective of the research concerned here was to describe the relation between certain traditions in society and the movement to purify Islam here in Indonesia. The supporters of the social traditions are the village farmer communities that still conduct, among others, the traditional rite of slametan. The supporters of the Islamic purification movement are pure-Islam communities that conduct Islamic penetration into the supporters of the social traditions. In conducting the penetration, the Islamic purification movement is influenced by factors of ideology and identity. The approach employed in the research was ethnographical in nature. The research results indicate that the Islamic purification movement of Muhammadiyah, in accordance with its ideology and identity, attempts to bring back pure Islamic teachings through (1) Sunday moning pengajian, (2) tarjih movement, and (3) social education. Meanwhile, the social tradition in the form of slametan is still going strong, as expressed by village communities through (1) tradition concerning ziarah, (2) tradition concerning nature, and (3) tradition concerning the human life cycle.