By Achmad Munjid
Since back in the colonial period, rural areas have been central to the life of Muslims in Indonesia. Most pesantren, the center of Islamic learning and religious authority, are located in rural areas. Most santri, live in rural area. Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest Muslim organization in the country, is also based mainly in the rural areas.
While staying away from colonial government and then from Soeharto`s unfriendly politics towards Islam during his first two decades of power, Islam had more freedom to deeply and massively influence people`s life in the rural areas.
Consequently although politically and economically poor, Muslim life in the rural areas is rich with Islamic culture.
Through a long and sometimes uneasy process of give and take, in the rural areas Islamic values have been subtly intertwined with local traditions, norms and customs. As an expression of identity, as reflected in kenduri (ritual feasts) sarongs or qasidah songs, Islam looks more relaxed and comfortable both with itself and with others.
This is what I call "deep Islam", an Islam that is deeply internalized and maturely externalized by its people, the santri.
Deep Islam is a rural phenomenon in the sense that it has fruitfully developed and has stronger influence in rural areas. Its home is there. Certainly this doesn`t necessarily mean that every rural Muslim is part of deep Islam or that deep Islam is found only in rural area.
To point out a beautiful green garden in one area doesn`t mean that everything there is green or that the green color can only be seen in that particular place.
Unlike in rural areas where Muslim culture has been a key player in social life for centuries, Islam was not as powerful in most urban areas.
In contrast to deep Islam, since the emergence of the `suddenly Muslim` phenomenon in the 1990s in such cities as Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Medan, Banjarmasin and others, we are presented with an `overdone` expression of Islam: too Arab, too pretentious, too snobbish, `too much`. This is an assertive Islam that consciously presents itself as being superior, the vanguard of a newly-enlightened people.
While it is true that not every rural Muslim is santri and thus part of deep Islam, it is justifiable to argue that thick Islam is also an urban phenomenon. Why?
Thick Islam is a new phenomenon, a tide that hit swiftly since the 1990s, as a (probably unintended) consequence of Soeharto`s modernization project among the first Muslim generation of SD Inpres (Presidential Directive Elementary School, a project started in 1973) combined with the powerful wave of global Islamic revitalization after the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
As such, most of its exponents are either young Muslims in urban areas or better educated young people in rural areas who became part of urban life of some sort. They represent a social segment with better access to the modernization project - the middle class. Just like many other social groups, this `suddenly Muslim` generation is not at all a single entity.
It consists of sub-variants with different layers and degrees of Islamic thickness. In general, they can be categorized into two main groups: the core circle and the floating mass.
The core circle group, puritan in nature, is made up of young committed Muslim activists who are mostly interested in Islamic revivalism, either politically or culturally, or both.
Many of them are professionals and college students in various disciplines with strong eagerness in reinventing a golden Islamic age and converting the secular modern world of the cities where they live in, often as `quick fixe tactics` for complicated problems.
Hasan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb, al-Maududi, as well as Hizbut Tahrir, Jama`ah Tabligh and the like, are dearly aspiring and inspiring for them. They are the revivalist group.
The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), MMI (Indonesian Mujahidin Council) and many neo-salafis are part of this group. They are relatively small, but very active and have great influence. This explains why most of their supporters are in urban areas. Their potential constituency and main markets are there. This also tells us why they grew rapidly in the beginning and are now stuck at certain point.
The floating mass, larger in number, are the `swing members`. Depending on the situation, they can be part of the revivalist group on the one side, or the cosmopolitan group on the other side of the spectrum. Or, they remain in the middle as part of a completely secular urban life.
Let`s call them the hybrid group. In many cases, they enjoy both the new market of Islam with tons of products to consume as well as the ever fascinating market of global capitalism.
They are easy going hybrid young Muslim generation who can be big fans of MTV trends and happy sympathizers of Islamic revivalism or Islamic cosmopolitanism, either separately or simultaneously.
They are young people - including those of non-santri background who share similar visions - with strong faith in the Islamic heritage and concerned with actual problems of the society and they have no hesitation in exploring new horizons and to taking part in universal global citizenship.
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The writer is president of Nahdlatul Ulama Community in North America and an associate at the Dialogue Institute, Temple University, Philadelphia, US.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com
