Securing Their Place: The Ba'alawi, Prophetic Piety and the Islamic resurgence in Indonesia

Abstract

This thesis examines the Ba'alawi- a group of Hadrami diaspora acknowledged as the descendants of Prophet Muhammad- in post-colonial Indonesia In particular, it observes their creative adaptation and manipulation of their sufi path, Tariqa 'Alawiyya, in their attempt to secure their place within the wider imagination of Indonesian nationhood while protecting their distinctive genealogical eminence. In the twentieth century, the tariqa which had long functioned to secure their identity, differentiate them from others and nurture their diasporic consciousness, proved incompatible with the assimilationist discourse of the nation. Further challenges came from Islamic reformism, preaching egalitarianism increasingly defined public articulation of Islam, confronting "traditional" notion of Islamic authority.The Ba'alawi adapted by reshaping of the tariqa rituals, shifting emphasis on Prophetic piety, expanding the Ba'alawi textual community to include local scholars, and the projecting of a new form of Prophetic authority in a hadithi framework.