“Angajawi”, or, On Being Muslim Nusantara: The Global Argument for Islam(ic) Nusantara

The article is an examination of practices, such as the transmission and movement of ideas and knowledge, by which Indonesian Islam or what is called Islam(ic) Nusantara comes into being as a distinct civilizational body, and then considers the ways in which these practices claim a place in a wider Muslim societies. “Angajawi” (being Muslim Nusantara) is a strategic term to convey these practices, while, at the same time, to look closely at the way they constitute the vitality and resilience of Islam(ic) Nusantara cultural riches among the citizens of Muslim world. The method followed in this article is firstly to track down the flow of ideas from Jawi or Nusantara as they were brought about by Indonesian agents of trade, knowledge and pilgrimage to the Holy Land since earlier centuries of the coming of Islam to Indonesia; and then, secondly, to draw our attention to the worldwide Muslim reception of these ideas as the creative energy and qualities of Indonesian Islam in dealing with the problems of humanity. Furthermore, the meaning of “Islam Nusantara” needs to be clarified so as to provide a clear comprehension of the globalized qualities or core ideals of “angajawi”.


The Importance of Being "Jawi"
Many who write about the Islamization of the Archipelago has typified Nusantara within the framework of "Oriental" culture in which the dominant picture represents Islam in Indonesia as marginal to the centers of genuine, authentic Islam. Even, for some pupils of orientalists, Islamization of Nusantara or Jawi-as people of Arabia called it-is considered not perfect wherever they found the traces of Wali Songo (nine saints) in local traditions (Nasution, 1992:vol 3). If they found something new, creative or ijtihad of any kind in their institutions or their texts, they narrowed it down to a pejorative tone of "un-Islamic" or "anti-Islam"! (Laffan, 2002: 259 ;Loir, 2009Loir, , 2013, Almost for their part the identity of Jawi belongs to a passive, uncreative, marginalized subject lacking free will and wilful courage to constitute the meaning of the globalizing Islam to humanity (Drewes, 1955 : 284).
The main point in this article is that Nusantara is not simply a representation held up by orientalists as the display case in a museum. "When you display something, you wrench it out of the context of living life and put it before an (in this case, European) audience", writes Edward Said on the orientalist representation of the Orient which depends upon the silence of the Other (Viswanathan, 2001:41). We realize that each human culture, like each language, is a whole, capable of accomodating within it the wide varieties of human temperament, and that learning another culture, as Islamization process, is like learning a second language. As The term "angajawi" (being or going Nusantara) serves as strategic framework for the study of global transmission of ideas and knowledge originating from the ulama of "ahlu-l-Jawi" or "ahlu-l-Jawah" channelled throughout other parts of the world, especially to their fellow Muslims. Earlier witness to that creative practices comes from Ibn Bathuthah, a 14 thcentury Maghribian renown traveller, who visited Bengal (India) and its surroundings in 1334 A.D. In his masterpiece, Rihlah Ibn Bathuthah, Ibn Bathuthah already saw "ahlu-l-Jawah" communities proselytizing Islamic religion among the pagan people of Barahnakar or Barah Nagar (Arakan, in nowadays Myanmar) at the time (Aryan & Al Qashah, 1987:628).
What does angajawi really mean? Angajawi is a verb formed from noun Jawi or Nusantara, refers to the vast Indonesian archipelago that stretches across the tropics from Sumatra in the west to Papua in the east. It is a region characterized by immense geographic, biological, ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity.
The verb is coined by the text of Babad Tanah Jawi, an eighteenth-century Javanese text but incorporating a much older material from sixteenth century northern coast of Java.
The text runs as follows: Wontên drêwis saking tanah ing Atas Angin angajawi, anama Sèh Raidin, adêdunung wontên ing Ngampèl Dênta, lami-lami kesah alêlampah malih, sarêng pêjah dipun pêtak wontên ing Pamalang." (Meinsma & Nijhoff, 1874 : 30) (It was told that there was a dervish [an expert on sufism or an ascetic (E. J. Brill, 1986(E. J. Brill, -2004 One darwish, as the story goes, came from "tanah Atas Angin" (lands above wind; namely Arab-Persian countries) to the lands below wind ("al-bilad tahta-r-rih", as people of Arab-Persian countries called it (Tibbetts, 1979)), or Nusantara, and, then, went to Java to pursue Islamic learning and stayed at Pesantren Ampel in Surabaya. The way he lived as being Jawi or angajawi for this process represents one of major lines of intellectual tradition among Muslims that will help to illuminate not only the nature of religious and intellectual relationships between Malay-Indonesians and Middle Eastern Muslims, but also the contemporary development of Jawi ideas in the Muslim world.
That is to say, angajawi signifies intricate networks of that which is manifest and physical [nyata] and that which is hidden and spiritual [ghaib]) (Bale Pustaka, 1937-1939. From "Jawi" to "Angajawi": A Notion of the Expanding Islam(ic) Nusantara world Hence I will illustrate major lines or layers of intellectual tradition which substantiate the core ideals of angajawi: First of all, angajawi involves using and speaking Jawi language (bahasa Jawi) by non-Jawi people as if it is their second language. Jawi language consists for the most part of the Malay along with its integrated loanwords from Arab-Persian and different Nusantara languages. One of early Let's take a closer look at the fourteenth century Hikayat Raja-raja Pasai, then quoted in the sixteenth century Sajarah Melayu, to set in motion the first trajectory of angajawi to take shape globally: It is related in the hadis [saying] of the Prophet Muhammed, that he said to his companions, "In the latter times men shall hear of an island under the wind (negeri bawah angin), named Samutra; as soon as this shall happen, go and convert it to Islam, for the island shall produce many Waliyullah, or persons of gifted piety" (Leyden, 1821:66;Hill, 1960: 2).
Two brief points can be deduced from this Malay He was a colleague of the great jurist Ismâ'ïl al-Hadramï, who benefited all and whose turban was a blessing to their souls. He [al-Jawi] was a master of character and upbringing, from whom a great many of the greats benefited, including the Syekh Abdullah bin As'ad al-Yafï'ï and others. Syekh al-Yafi'ï mentioned him in his history and praised him greatly, saying in recognition of him that the aforementioned syekh [al-Jawi] was: The famous saint, he of true breaths and unprecedented miracles, exalted talents and radiant dignities [dzu-l-anfas ash-shadiqah wa-l-karamat alkhariqah wa-l-mawahib as-saniyyah wa-l-maqamat al-jaliyyah]. (Az-Zabidi, 1987 :341) The same Syekh Abu Abdullah Mas'ud bin Abdullah al-Jawi was also mentioned by Syekh Yusuf an-Nabhani, a nineteenth century Syrian ulama, in his well-known book,  At this level, "ibarah Jawi" or Jawi discourse also includes promotion of "kitab Jawi", i.e. books used in religious study written by Jawi ulama or tehir disciples in  (Hamka, 1982: 60) The same story was also narrated by the Jawi ulama-

founders of Madrasah Darul Ulum of Mecca in 1934 in
responding to the voices levelled against the superiority of Jawi teachers (Baso,2015). The big issue involved in these "Angajawi", or, On Being Muslim Nusantara: The Global... two cases, I think, is the ultimate unhindered Jawi struggle or, as paraphrased by one true Jawi master, "our struggle", to uphold the core ideals of angajawi as embodied in the norms of Islam as rahmatan lil'alamin.

Disseminated to the World
The core ideals of angajawi lies precisely at the As much as Bismillah upon slaughtering in the absence of which animals slaughtered is unlawful to eat, following the Sunnite madzhab is the intellectual force that makes Muslims feel free to go making the great in the world. Even for desert Arabs, by following madzhab they turned their keen minds and clear brains to achieve perfection beyond the wildest dream.
Well, as the question goes as to why al-Ghazali did what he did for the context of Persians or Ibn Rusyd for his Maghribis, the greatness and long-term viability of Muslims civilisation actually originated from its intellectually crafted flexibility of using and adding together of the separate elements -like aforementioned combination of knife and Bismillah -to form a common set. That is "wujud buda nanging rasa Islam" (Although non-Islamic are that old traditions in its forms, but its essence is Islamic), as Sunan Kalijaga affirms it as the underlying principle of integration, excavated from the depths of mental domain or social practices of Nusantara (Soeroto, 1951).
So far as the arguments goes, the next question is: what is the superiority of Nusantara that could be the object of angajawi by people of other nations, that can be used as a vehicle to enrich Islam and to advance human civilisation?
Here comes the importance of Syekh Jamaluddin Kubro, his son (Syekh Ibrahim Asmoro) and his grandson (Sunan Ampel) in the new trajectory of Islamization: That is a good place to live in. Its people are happy to be traders and make good fortune. They are all keen to pray and observe religious duties thanks to their piety and devotion to the Almighty God.
As for Syekh Samsu Tabarez, he has received the blessing (karamah) of God, being well and looking great, and has no difficulties or all sorts of danger.  "Angajawi", or, On Being Muslim Nusantara: The Global... norms and values of universal humanity, i.e. Islam rahmatan li-l-alamin (Islam as blessings for all) (Ilyas, 2011: 188).
From construction of Jawi as barakah, comes angajawi for embodying "Jawi's barakah". As our text testifies, after the fall of Baghdad in 1258 many Arabs began to turn their eyes to eastern parts of the globe, (It is better for you to flee from India and find yourself another home. Now if you wish to go and live elsewhere, in your search for such a country, at midnight while arriving at that country you must dig a hole, only deep enough for you to be able to touch the bottom with your hand. Take a clod of earth, and if feels warm and smells sweet, that is a good place to live in. It will be a blessed country, and anything planted will grow well. Disease will also be rare, foreign traders will come in great numbers and enemies will keep their distance; they will find it hard to contrive an attack owing to the country's good barakah. Most thing will flourish and few will prove difficult). (Rass, 1969 : 231-237).
The expression "banyak barkatnya pada bumi itu" (that country will be blessed profoundly) describes considerably the strong attachment to the land of Jawi, strengthened as abode of barakah, land of peace and prosperity, on whose name they fought relentlessly As angajawi improved in its strength, Nusantara were effectively endowed with the qualities of barakah: we prospered, our economy moving around, foundation of our nation established and we knew universal ethics.
Angajawi with its four layers -as described aboveessentially means to a greater degree an essential condition allowing the realization of our supreme ideals on the global stage and promoting the perfection of all.
And to this point one of Jawi master of 19 th century global intellectual networks directed his unsurprisingly creative prayer (Fathani, 19912: 1-2):  practices or layers of intellectual angajawi remarkably constitues the distinct civilizational body that characterizes the discourse of "Islam(ic) Nusantara".
Afterwards, the article needs to clarifies some confusions about the term of "Islam Nusantara" as recently becomes the object of contention dan public discourse among elitists and common people as well. Islam Nusantara is clearly the ijtihad or intellectual endeavor of Indonesian ulamas to promote and deliver the best they have to advance human interests in the light of Quran and the Prophet traditions. And angajawi is the mechanism by which Islam as religion and civilization comes to the world as rahmatan li-lalamin, as blessing for humankind, strengthened mostly by the qualities of Nusantara's "barakah" as the core ideal of angajawi.