8 - From Apolitical Quietism to Jihadist Activism: “Salafis”, Political Mobilization, and Drama of Jihad in Indonesia

Summary

Jihad is often perceived as an expression of religious fanaticism and is mostly associated with the outrageous acts of irrational, insane individuals inspired by their firm belief in radical religious doctrines. Although there is some plausibility in this perception, it fails to uncover the deeper meaning of jihad. Jihad is also a language of protest that can be used by marginalized individuals to construct their identity and thereby their position in the public sphere. For them, jihad is a message conveyed to display attempts to transform and empower their marginalization and break out of their own sense of frustration.

The rise of Laskar Jihad, which from April 2000 until its disbanding in October 2002 mobilized more than 7,000 members to fight jihad against Christians in the Moluccas and other Indonesian trouble spots, perfectly represents an attempt made by a group of people to negotiate their identity through the call for jihad and the particular kind of violence it enacted. This organization was a paramilitary division of the Forum Komunikasi Ahl al- Sunnah wal-Jama'ah (Communication Forum of the Followers of the Sunna and the Community of the Prophet) established by those who identify themselves as “Salafis”, followers of the pious ancestors (Salaf al-Salih), active under the banner of the salafi dakwah movement.

THE SALAFI DAKWAH MOVEMENT

The salafi dakwah movement began to exert its influence throughout Indonesia in the mid-1980s, by developing a stance of apolitical quietism. Unlike other Islamic organizations, both home-grown and transnational, which had proliferated earlier, this movement was squarely within the puritanical classic Salafi-Wahhabi tradition. Its main concern covered matters of creed and morality, such as strict monotheism, anti-sufism, divine attributes, purifying Islam from accretions, and developing the moral integrity of the individual. True to their advocacy of the espousal of the return to the doctrine of the Salaf al-Salih, members avoided discussing politics, or, more precisely, engaging questions of political power.