The kiai in Java usually have supra-village influence. Some have national influence. A kiai's position in a pesantren and involvement in NU can make him a national leader of the Islamic community in Indonesia. The pesantren is an important institution attached to one's kiaiship. It is through the pesantren that a kiai builds a pattern of patronage which relates him to his community. The pattern of patronage can easily be established since most, if not all, pesantren are privately owned by kiai, a fact which can tie society to its kiai.
The kiai's wider influence and his supra-village pattern of leadership have enabled him to keep in touch with private and government agencies. The kiai sometimes plays a brokerage role in transmitting development messages, and the society may accept a government program more easily when they are approached by the kiai. The elevated position of the kiai is indeed inherent in the nature of Islamic society, since in a society where religious knowledge constitutes an important part of life, the kiai is the source of this necessary knowledge. The kiai also fulfils societal needs in relation to religious life. He performs birth and death rituals and other religious ceremonies. It is evident that the crititical role of the kiai stems from his position as both religious leader and teacher, often coupled with charismatic leadership. The kiai, as a group, try to bring their communities into an idealised situation as it is conceptualised by Islam. They also try to interpret all developments and changes in the socio-cultural and political fields in order that Muslims, especially in the villages, can understand the situation.
I would argue that there is no kiai whose death is not followed by the society's sadness or, at least, a sense of loss at his death. Institutionally, the kiaiship ideally comprises those Muslims who are very close to their God, happy to undertake the duty given by God to do His will. They can be grouped with those holy men who always relate worldly matters to religious norms. It is understandable, therefore, that kiaiship has a respectable place at the heart of the society, since it is through the kiai that the spirituality of the society is established and guarded. Al-‘ulama waratha al-anbiya (lit. the ‘ulama is the inheritor of the Prophets), said the hadith (saying of the prophet). The hadith suggests that characteristics that commonly attach to the Prophets, such as honesty and cleverness and even the willingness to save society, either on earth or beyond, are part of the ‘ulama’s personality. Due to these characteristics and the power of his leadership, the kiai is always surrounded by loyal and trusted followers who ask him to lead them in religious and worldly matters. In addition, the leadership of certain kiai is reinforced through their leadership role in the pesantren, since they are not only spiritual agents but also intellectuals who provide knowledge. The kiai can therefore become a centre of power. However, this situation can also create a polarisation of power since the existence of many kiai in a village can create several centres of power. In Jombang, for example, no one kiai has overarching influence. Each kiai's influence is limited by location and political factors. A kiai in Jombang is usually popular only in certain districts, especially his own. A common phrase among Muslims in Jombang, bukan kiai saya (“not my kiai”), expresses the limited sphere of influence of each kiai.
This situation, however, does not necessarily mean that a certain group in society will only give respect to the kiai they call ‘my kiai’. All kiai in Jombang are generally respected. It should nonetheless be emphasised that there is a difference in the pattern between the relationship of the pesantren kiai and society, and that of the tarekat kiai and his followers. The level of submission of tarekat followers to their murshid in the tarekat is greater than that in the general kiai world. The tarekat followers give exaggerated respect to their kiai. In the tarekat world the loyalty or submission of the murid (pupil, but is used to mean ‘follower’) to his murshid comes close to absolute. Accordingly, in all circumstances, the tarekat followers would support the action of their murshid.
The difference between this attitude and the attitude of the followers of pesantren kiai can be seen in the case of the Pesantren Darul Ulum when Kiai Musta‘in, the former leader of this pesantren, joined the government political party (I will discuss this matter at length in Chapter V). Joining government party during the 1970s seemed to be taboo for Indonesian Muslims. Some parents of children studying in the pesantren of Kiai Musta‘in tried to withdraw their children and send them to another pesantren.
Although Kiai Musta‘in was condemned by Muslim society in general in Jombang, he was still respected by thousands of followers of the Tarekat Qadiriyah Wa Naqsyabandiyah which he led. These followers remained loyal and supported his leadership in the tarekat. It can even be assumed that the latter followed Kiai Musta‘in's steps and supported the government party, an action which was deemed as haram (religiously prohibited) at the time, since it deviated from what was called ‘the struggle for Islam’. It is interesting to note further that those followers who left him did not regard the action of Kiai Musta‘in as wrong; at least no tarekat follower dared to express such an attitude. Accordingly, Kiai Musta‘in still received respect from them although they were no longer his formal followers.
One can ask the question: what actually bound Kiai Musta‘in and his followers together? The answer lies in the ‘Islamic’[3] concepts of baraka and karama, which are deeply embedded in the belief of the people in general and in that of the santri in pesantren and the followers of the tarekat in particular. Baraka [4] (cf. Ahmed, 1976) is usually related to the karama. Karama is a characteristic attributed to a holy man, who can transfer God's blessing to the people who need it. Due to his being karama [5], a saint can do things khawariqu'l-‘ada (contradictory to the normal human situation). In the traditional orthodox perspective, the hijab (lit. curtain) hides divine things or creatures from human sight. The secrets of Allah were only revealed by Allah to certain chosen people such as the saints. With the power they receive from Allah, saints can thus do things which from the normal human perspective are unusual. Folklore or local Muslim stories tell us, for example, that those who reach the stage of saintship can perform their Friday prayer in Mecca, while at the same time they are also seen visibly conducting the prayer at their local mosques. Because of this, it is believed that one can receive God's blessing through the intermediary of a holyman such as a saint or the murshid. Some Muslims believe that “a great saint's karama is effective even after his death”[6] (Bruinessen, 1992:215). Since the kiai and ‘ulama in general are close to God, they can reach the stage of karama. As a result, a request by a kiai to God either for himself or for others, may be more readily received.
Those who have karama can give baraka, that is the positive effect which arises from interaction with a holy man. A life filled with baraka can be exemplified in a hidup yang cukup (a life where we make ends meet). My informant gave me the following example. A poor man might be living at subsistance level, but because of baraka this condition does not result in any trouble. On the other hand, a rich man, who lives serba kecukupan (lit. at a higher standard), could have problems that disturb his mental condition due to his not having baraka. An informant told me about a person who graduated from the faculty of economics but had been jobless for a couple of years. One might have thought, from his discipline, the person would have had more chance of being recruited into an administrative positions than graduates from other disciplines. It appeared that this person was the son of a policeman who often accepted money from people working in a ‘dirty place’. The money was used by the policeman to fund his son's education. In the opinion of this informant, such money did not incur baraka. As a result, his son could not get a job, despite the fact that he had graduated from university. The informant ever considered that this tainted education had even hindered the son in his attempts to find employment.
In brief, baraka is a quality which is reflected through people, such as the kiai, who are endowed with karama. The kiai's followers believe that he can give baraka, especially if he himself says a prayer. In any ziara (visit) to a kiai, the tarekat followers usually ask for his prayers for a secure life. In addition, they try to avoid disappointing the kiai, and certainly avoid opposing him, since either could result in the loss of baraka in their lives. In an extreme case, a follower could even become kualat (fairly cursed). It is acknowledged that the state of baraka may stem from having a good relationship with the kiai or other holy men who have karama. However, baraka can also be derived from the prayer of common people, who perform extremely good religious acts, such as those returning from hajj. Such a prayer is easily accepted by God. This is a tradition, of course, but it also relates to people's belief systems which underly their actions.
On two evenings I visited two Javanese Muslims who had just arrived from undertaking hajj. The first one was a lurah (village head), and the other was a kiai, who heads a pesantren under the collective leadership of other kiai on the west side of Jombang. When I arrived at the lurah's house, there were some people chatting with him. I then became involved in a conversation with them. When a young mother among them was about to leave, she asked the lurah for a prayer. She said: Pak lurah, kulo nyuwun barakahipun lan do'ane panjenengan (Mr. Lurah, I would like to get baraka from your having undertaken the hajj. Please say a prayer for me). The same situation occurred when I visited the kiai in his house. People who came there shook the kiai’s right hand (some kissed it) and then embraced him, an action indicating closeness or brotherhood. It should be noted first that such embraces happened only between the kiai and male Muslims, or between nyai (the kiai’s wife) and female Javanese, and only between Muslims and those just finishing their hajj. On this occasion, I also noticed that before people left the kiai, they always begged for his prayer, just to get baraka.
The happenings in the kiai’s house were not too surprising me, since begging kiai for baraka is very common. However, asking the lurah for baraka led me to ask certain questions. I later received an answer which, although not satisfying, gave me a logical understanding of these actions. The Javanese Muslims believe that doing hajj is symbolically similar to cleaning the soul of sin. At the very least, those who do the hajj have completed their Islamic obligation[7]. For a short time after one completes his hajj, this being clean enables him to be a person whose prayer is easily accepted by Allah.
The tradition of baraka is more prevalent among those Muslims who orient their ideologies through the traditionalist Islamic organisation, NU. Among Muhammadiyah[8] followers or sympathisers, such a tradition is less known. In the NU's tradition such beliefs and practices of baraka have been embedded for a long time. My informant (a lecturer at the Universitas Darul Ulum, who used to be a santri of Kiai Musta‘in) told me about a santri of Pesantren Darul Ulum who disagreed with his kiai (Musta‘in) because of the latter's affiliation with Golkar. He was one of those santri who sharply criticised his kiai. This santri was a muballigh (preacher). While PPP was the Islamic party, such criticism could impinge on an area that could discredit the kiai. Some years later, the santri had a psychological problem, which according to some sources had no clear cause. Since he was a muballigh his mental illness was known to many people, who often came or heard his preaching. Some people thought that his illness was due to the kualat (indirect curse) that resulted from his discrediting his teacher, Kiai Musta‘in. Hence, the muballigh was sent to face Kiai Musta‘in and beg for his forgiveness. After this visit, the muballigh recovered from his mental ilness.
The problem of baraka or karama has indeed been embedded in the practice and culture of Javanese Islam. These practices have produced attitudes that might be exaggerated and ‘not allowed’, from an Islamic perspective[9]. The Javanese Muslims, for example, differentiate some things in terms of their karama, incurring baraka. A respondent who used to be the khaddam (servant) of a well known kiai in Jombang, but is now a lecturer at the Universitas Darul Ulum after obtaining his M.A from the government university, Gadjahmada, gave me an illustration drawn from a Javanese whom he had interviewed. This Javanese, who works in the Jogyakarta palace, considered his salary to have a special value. While realising that his salary was not sufficient to support his family, he was convinced that accepting such a salary would incur baraka, which might give him a chance to obtain additional employment outside the palace. He thus deemed the salary a sacred thing that merited special treatment. A person with such a belief would not put the salary into the same pocket or wallet as money coming from other sources. He would physically separate such salary from other money if he put them in the same pocket.
In Jombang my field assistant told me about a kiai who has a karama. The karama of this kiai, however, is often related to a certain accident experienced by someone but which was not known by the kiai himself. This example is to indicate that the result of a kiai's karama, either baraka or kualat, is automatic. The karama responds to a certain attitude of a Muslim in accordance with his relation with the kiai. Thus, any good perception about kiai would incur baraka on the Muslim's part, and any bad attitude (kurang ajar) would cause kualat. Thus, the baraka is not only obtained by the kiai's prayers, but can also be elicited by those who have good relations with the kiai.
This culture of subordination does not seem to be characteristic only of traditional Javanese, since we can find its parallels in the culture of sainthood in general, such as in North Africa. The notion of baraka has resulted not only in the existence of small kingdom-like groupings established by a kiai or saint, but has also created a culture of inequality in social relations. The kiaiship in Java has become a small kingdom-like entity that exerts a type of informal rulership; and gatherings to obtain the kiai's baraka have become a routine ritual. In Jombang, where people's emotional attachment to the kiai is sufficiently strong, the culture of subordination not only marks the relationship between the kiai and his society but is extended to the society's relationship with the kiai's family. The people's view of the kiaiship leads them to foster good relations with the kiai’s family as well. Treating the kiai's family well, in one informant's opinion, is a necessity since the family is the inheritor of one's integrity (cf. Sukamto, 1992).
There are several media through which the relationship between the kiai and his community is perpetuated. Firstly, it is important to look at the pesantren culture (see Dhofier, 1982) within which the kiai provides Islamic studies for his santri. The relationship between the kiai and his santri is very close and, in some cases, very emotionally laden because of the charismatic position of the kiai in his community, informed by a culture of subordination. Since these close relationships are not confined to the pesantren but continue after the santri become members of society, the perpetuation and the spread of such culture is assured. This unequal relationship is perpetuated because former santri continue to visit their kiai regularly. The alumni of a pesantren commonly make regular visits to former kiai just to do silaturrahmi (lit. to connect one's kindness to others) and obtain the kiai's blessing. Such regular visits do not stop even after a kiai’s son succeeds his father in leading the pesantren. This is because the position of the kiai and his son is the same in the santri perspective. In addition, by the time the the son occupies the kiaiship, the former santri are usually sending their own sons to the pesantren now managed by the kiai’s son.
A second factor which helps bind the santri to the kiai relates to certain important religious rituals, which are held by the kiai and are attended by former santri, including those from other provinces. These rituals range from the commemoration of the death of the founder of the pesantren to the festival at the end of schooling. In the tarekat world, there are religious rituals, like mujahada kubro (great ritual) which are attended by thousands of followers. On the one hand, such rituals provide a forum where people can practise their religious beliefs. On the other hand, it is the medium through which the relationship between the kiai and his santri or followers can be strengthened. A number of people, some of them very young, whom I met in Jombang, had come from other provinces just to attend such religious rituals. “I feel I must attend such an important event as the mujahada kubro”, said a young member of the Penyiar Sholawat Wahidiyah who had come from Jakarta. Although he had to spend four nights attending this ritual, he was very happy. What was important for him was that his attendance at this ritual would incur baraka.
However, we can find some changes in this culture of submission with regard to people's relationships with their kiai and in relation to the notion of baraka itself among the younger santri community. The more secularly educated young santri have different notions, reflecting changes in society and general attitudes toward the institution of the kiaiship itself. The changing pattern of pesantren education, especially in relation to the motivation brought by the santri to the pesantren, has given rise to changes in their perception of the kiaiship. Although such changes have not been pronounced, they affect the pattern of relationships between members of the community and the kiai. I will discuss this further in a later chapter of this thesis.