Travelling to the sacred sites has a grammar. Pilgrims as “the reader” should have a certain competence in syntax in order to obtain blessings. In the previous chapter, I have mentioned that the space in Pamijahan is imagined to have four sides or pongpok. The ideology of closeness, which is derived from the structure of the genealogy, is applied to the notion of space. The closer to the holy men, the more privilege people may have. The privilege and the blessing of the locals have been attached to their land since the Shaykh made his first shelter in the village. If the villagers have privilege attached instantly to their land and of course to their village culture, the pilgrims outside these linkages and outsiders should performed special rituals in order to grasp such privilege from their holly men (wali). Privilege should be achieved through a structured process. On the other hand, the villagers have the obligation to help the pilgrims. Thus, they try to translate what their ancestors prescribed and what they did not. One of their obligations is to make a sign. For instance, locals designate locations to make boundaries between outer and inner space for both villagers and pilgrims. Furthermore, they codify a sacred protocol and its sequences in their village.

Sequence is crucial in ritual. A ritual should be started and finished within a certain period. Pilgrimage in Pamijahan is also structured in conventional ways. It is slightly different to anti-structure (Turner 1984) The space and place in Pamijahan are to some extent similar to other parts in the hilly areas of West Java. Turner argues that unusual sites are the characteristic of pilgrimage. In fact, Pamijahan is not special from the perspective of oddness. It has a cave; but there are lots of the caves in Tasikmalaya. In an anomalous city like Jakarta, we can go to a pilgrimage site known as Batang. Indeed, the most important locus is the erected sign. In Pamijahan created signs should be connected to Shaykh Abdul Muhyi. One of the displayed signs in Pamijahan is the gate.

Turner (Turner 1968) argues that pilgrimage forms a series of structure-communitas (anti-structure)-communitas. Pilgrims move from structured environments to anti-structure environments and back again to the structured one. Meaning is acquired by passage through the liminal.

From Pamijahan we learn that the terms of ‘communitas’ (Turner 1968) are experienced differently due to fact that pilgrims consist of various categories and each category may have different practices on the site. For the weekender, the sense of communitas in the Turnerian view may not always be achieved. They often come with a large group and bring with them their own master (guru) and ulama, and even their village headman (Ketua RT). When they come to the sites, such structured environments to some extent still closely adhere to the group. It is different for the specialist pilgrims who stay for a long time in the shrine, interact with other specialists, and create a sense of similarity without being influenced by previous lived structures.

The most apparent aspect in pilgrimage is the demarcation between profane and sacred space. The sacredness starts at the gate (Kaca-kaca). Kaca-kaca is a Sundanese term for gate. The gate is built on the most eastern side of the village. It is a sign with reference to tradition. Pilgrims have to learn about this tradition. Prohibitions called tali paranti are written on the gate wall. According to texts written on that wall, pilgrims should wear appropriate clothes. Woman must use their veils. Neither villagers nor visitors are allowed to use their vehicles in the sacred village (kampung Pamijahan). The gate regiments pilgrims to act in certain ways. The regimentation is acquired through the structured affect of the gate. The gate physically points to the sacredness. Villagers find the gate as the starting point for the sacred journey. It is like the front door of the sacred village. Based on tali paranti, the gate should be erected and maintained by the all the families of Muhyi or kapongpokan who stay inside as well as outside of Pamijahan.

However, according to the custodian, the current gate was build by the prominent family of Abdul Muhyi who became a famous Islamic scholar (ulama) in Cianjur (200 km to the West) a long time ago. Thus, in Jakobsonian terms, the gate is a message. It is also a code providing pilgrims with information and referential function. The code of pilgrimage (adab jarroh) as stated on the wall also expresses the presence of the addresser in Jakobsonian terms.

Approaching Pamijahan from the main gate, visitors enter a non-smoking area. According to local narratives, Shaykh Abdul Muhyi ordered his family and his followers not to smoke in the area close to his residence (and now his tomb). Pamijahan recognises such prohibitions as part of the tali paranti, which should be obeyed by both villagers and visitors.

For instance, villagers do not hesitate to warn pilgrims (nuziarah) who break custom (tali paranti) by shouting at them not to smoke on the way to the shrine: "Please put out your cigarette.” They believe that a person who disobeys tradition (tali paranti) will receive punishment. The custodian told the story that some visitors who break this custom have problems with their cars or even become sick on their way home. The custodian said, “Everywhere, as a guest, they have to respect the host“ (Di mana bae tamu mah kedah ngahargaan kana tali paranti atawa kabiasaan satempat tuan rumah.) He stressed the word host, which not only refers to the villagers but, most importantly, also to Kangjeng Shaykh. So breaking tradition (tali paranti) means not respecting Kangjeng Shaykh.

Passing the gate and the bridge and walking for about ten minutes along the concrete path, visitors find the custodian’s office. Between the gate and the custodian’s headquarters some residents sell fried fish and handicrafts made in Tasikmalaya. The sacredness of this place exists side by side with its worldliness. I found some pilgrims from Jakarta who were surprised when they found that the village (kampung) Pamijahan is unlike other remote areas. After visitors walk down to the valley where Kampung Pamijahan is situated they find a mosque renovated at a cost of five hundred billion rupiah, soaring from the valley up to the hills. The house of the custodian and his staff member are designed as in cities (kota.) Parabolic antennas have been erected on the roofs. In the background, the green hills characterise Pamijahan as a country area. Even Rinkes, on his first ‘pilgrimage’ to this site found “a first class hotel in the country.” (1910)

Visitors should write down their names at the custodian‘s office. This stage establishes the relation between visitors, the custodian, and his staff. The visitor approaches the custodian, his staff, shakes hands with them and they sit crossed-legged (sila). The custodian opens his registration book and his staff offer a cup of tea and some sweets. When I was there, I noted the transaction as follows

Next, the custodian offers ritual accessories such as perfume, incense, isim, and the book, which describes the history of Kangjeng Shaykh. These packages cost five thousand to ten thousand rupiah. The custodian realises that not all visitors can afford these packages so he suggests that they only buy a particular item such as perfume or a book. After that, the custodian assigns a caretaker to accompany the visitors. Visitors can perform their own ritual after reporting (ngadaftar), but the majority ask the custodian for guidance.

The visitors proceed From the custodian’s office to the Shrine; after the ten minute walk along the village path, visitors make ablution. The manual Risalah Adab al-jairin suggests that pilgrims should first purify their body and clothe; after that they should make ablution. Ablution (wudu) in fiqh is to purify the body from minor najis. The Risalah Adab al-jairin does not explain when or where wudu should be made. Mostly pilgrims purify themselves before they step on to the hill where the shrine is located. There are three washing areas, which can be used for ablution. This stage makes clear to visitors that they are entering the most sacred place in Pamijahan.

After performing wudu, visitors should consider their intention. According to the custodian, there is no ibadah without intention (niat). He says, “All conduct will be rewarded based on its intention (sagala oge tergantung kana niat).” According to him, the first intension (niat berangkat) is recited at home and the second, niat ngalaksanakeun, before approaching the sites. The manual makes clear that pilgrims should not hesitate to come to the tomb site since they believe that pilgrimage is recommended by their faith.^[17] After that, visitors take off their shoes and put them on a shelf. Before they trek up the hill, some are offered the accessories of the rituals (kelengkapan). Afterward, visitors climb the steps to the hill where Kangjeng Shaykh’s Makom is situated.

The manual advises that visitors should step with the right foot first when entering the shrine and greeting the wali (kedah sampean tengah anu tipayun bari maos assalamualaikum). By that time, the custodian has approached the gate of the shrine. He then leads visitors on to take their places in a cross-legged position. The manual also suggests that one should perform this stage with respect. Furthermore, one should also imagine that one will meet the saint as one will meet the leader pangagung.^[18] The next stage is to deliver the ritual greeting: the first greeting is delivered to the Prophet Muhammad, then to his companions; the second greeting is to Kangjeng Shaykh Haji Abdul Muhyi.^[19] For the third greeting, the custodian recites a set of Quranic verses ten times.

These stages are designed to introduce another stage; that of delivering the gift or hadiyah. The hadiyah is a recitation of fatiha or the opening verses of Quran. However, before the kuncen delivers the hadiyah he has to do a greeting ritual. The greeting says:

The benefit of the recitation is addressed to the dead. In popular practice, hadiyah is an additional daily ritual which is performed after, for instance, the five prayer times. The ritual hadiyah consists in reciting the formulaic chants, for instance,

The hadiyah or the ‘gift’ can be sent to figures other than the Prophet depending on the intention made and the context in which hadiyah is recited. In the context of individual Muslims, at home, the hadiyah is delivered to one’s dead parents or neighbours or their teachers. In the context of ziarah, hadiyah is addressed to the people who are ‘historically’ connected to the holy men buried in the shrines, or to other people who are believed to have a relationhips with the dead in the shrine, or to the people who have been connected by Sufi silsilah. So, the first, the ritual hadiyah, is to address the Prophet and, the second is to address the martyrs and the masters of the Sufimaster, Abd al-Qadir al-Jailani. The third is to address the master of the particular tarekat, Shaykh Abdul Muhyi. The fourth is to address the holy men visited at the shrines. The fifth is to address the murid of Shaykh Abdul Muhyi and all prominent families buried around the Shrine and neighbouring areas. The sixth is to contemporary figures that are important from the point of view of nu ziarah. The gift is the Al-Fatiha recitation.

Radical scripturalist groups such as Muhammadiyyah and Persis reject this practice. The rejection is based on their beliefs that the dead can not do anything expect wait for judgment. Only pious children are believed to have the opportunity to send hadiyah for their dead mothers and fathers. The meaning of hadiyah in their interpretation is also limited to praying to God to enhance their parents’ status on God’s side.

In contrast to Muhammadiyyah and Persis, the popular practice, which is in the majority came from Nahdatul Ulama, provides further meaning for the ritual hadiyah. It is not only presented to one’s parents but also to the wali, the master of the tariqa, even to the local dead in the village. Such believers perceive the reciprocal values between the dead and pilgrims could emerge in ritual hadiyah, as stated in the manual of pilgrimages such as Risalah Adab al-jairin of Pamijahan. This ritual is close to the ideology of tawassul.

The hadiyah is also seen as part of the preliminary set of rituals. Risalah Adab al-jairin states hadiyah as part of the greeting to the wali, “ari ieu risalah sakadar hajat paranti hadiyhana uluk salam…” The manual was written to provide pilgrims with the ritual guidance. One important section in ritual pilgrimage is making hadiyah or the greeting ritual. In the case of Pamijahan, after sending the gift to the Prophet, the same gift is also directed to the sahabat and Karabat. Sayidinia Abubakar, Sayyidina Umar, and Sayyidina Ali, also receive hadiyat from pilgrims. Next, the gift is also given to the mujtahid, ulama, amilin, fuqaha, ahlul Sufi and tabi’in. Then, the gift is sent to the wali from Magrib until Masyrik. After that, one should send the gift to Shaykh Abdulqadir Jailani. Special holy men are addressed here. They are particularly people who have been linked with the Order or the founder of the Order and his companions. The gift is initially addressed to the Kangjeng Shaykh Haji Abdul Muhyi and his familiy and friends such as Sembah Khatib Muwahid, Sembah Kudrat, Sembah Dalem Sacaparana, and Sembah Dalem Yudanagara.

The hadiyah is a important preliminary protocol permitting entry into a symbolic transaction, and reciprocally between the dead and nu ziarah. After delivering hadiyah, visitors recite a set of verses, personal prayers such as salawat, istigfar, tahlil and doa tawassul.^[20] The doa tawassul contains salawat to the Prophet and also address Shayh Abdul Muhyi in the following terms:

Finally, the custodian recites the hadiyah ritual again, followed by doa.

The custodian prays for the visitors, their families and friends. In the prayer, the custodian mediates the visitors’ wishes.^[21] The custodian’s palms are raised and the pilgrims follow his gestures by saying “Amen...Amen...Amen...”. If a visitor explicitly asks the custodian to deliver his wishes, then the custodian recites a particular doa. The custodian also recites “an additional” doa without the visitors,’ explicit request. For example, if the custodian knows the occupation of the visitors, he then recites a doa to strengthen their position in office or to develop their business. He also recites a doa for researchers like me.

Finally, the custodian turns to face his visitors and shakes hands with them. The custodian delivers salam to them and returns to his office for the next assignment. At the final stage, visitors probably give the kuncen who accompanied them to the shrine, or the nu ngaziarahkeun, a consideration for his personal service.

After the custodian returns to his office, the nu biasa ziarah will stay at the tomb to recite their personal doa and find appropriate shelter in a corner of the shrine while women visitors enter a special room (rohangan kanggo istri). However other visitors will continue to other sacred sites.

Unlike other pilgrimage sites in Java, at Kangjeng Shaykh Abdul Muhyi’s shrine, there is no burning of incense or scattering of flowers. According to the villagers, this unwritten procedure is a response to the critics who condemn such practice as heresy. However, when the Dutch orientalist, A.D. Rinkes visited to this site in 1909 (Rinkes 1910), he found visitors burning incense.

A specialist pilgrim will stay for the length of time, that has been suggested by his guru or the tradition in his school, while other nu ziarah biasa will continue their pilgrimage to the Safarwadi cave, Guha Safarwadi—which is also often called Guha Pamijahan. At the gate to the shrine, a cave guide, or nu nganteur kag guha, will offer guidance to visitors. One to five visitors make use of one of them. So, if the visitors belong to groups, which may consist of one to five buses, four-nunganteur ka guha are needed to serve the passengers from each bus. In peak season such as Maulid and Rajab, a nu nganteur kag guha earns about twenty thousand rupiah a day. Sometimes, they are lucky because pilgrims give them tips as well.

The cave guides are important in maintaining traditions. On the way to the cave, they often make conversation with their clients. On the way to the cave, they are ‘broadcasting’ the story (cf. Fox 2002) at the site, answering questions, suggesting the route, shelter, or even restaurants. On these occasions, for example, they will describe what the miracle, kaghaiban, in the cave is. Visitors often ask many questions about the cave.

Visitors need ten minutes to walk from the tomb to the cave. They have to climb the path. This journey is not easy for older visitors. During my fieldwork, I found a visitor had died on the way to the cave because he was too old and probably had a heart attack. The pakuncenan, like an insurance office, had the responsibility of calling for an ambulance and sending him back to his village in Semarang. The difficult path for the pilgrims may enhance the potency of the site.

Before entering the cave, visitors should recite the call for prayer (adzan). Nu nganteur kag guha say that adzan gives visitors a sense of calm, ‘katenangan’. Someone who has never entered a cave (guha) probably feel scared because he may think that inside there are snakes and other poisonous animals. One Nu nganteur kag guha said that a lot of visitors feel extremely close to God when they approach the cave because they realise that only God can help them if something happens inside. Therefore, besides reciting azan, other visitors voluntarily recite verses from the Quran and salawat when they are inside the cave. Adzan is a standard chant in Islam. However, according to the text, adzan should be performed before prayer five times each day and not at times other than that. It is common for the Sundanese and probably the Javanese, to extend the use of such formulaic chants to different settings and for different purposes.

Villagers believe that the Guha Pamijahan called the cave of Safarwadi in manuscripts, is sacred. The cave was an important place for Kangjeng Shaykh Abdul Muhyi after he returned from Mecca. As discussed previously 6, there is convincing evidence that Shaykh Abdul Muhyi obtained the Shatariyah silsilah from Abd al-Rauf al-Singkel, the prominent Sumateran Sufi of the 17^th century (Christomy 2001; Krauss 1995; Rinkes 1909). However, in the oral tradition of Panyalahan and Pamijahan, Shyakh Abdul Muhyi is reported to have found the cave at Abd al-Rauf’s suggestion made when Muhyi and Abd al-Rauf were in Mecca.

Oral traditions regarding regarding Shaykh Abdul Muhyi, some of which have become available in printed form (see Khaerusalam 1997), provide an emphasis different from that of the Babad Pamijahan. The ‘manager of the sacred site”, to borrow Fox’s phrases, a ‘broadcaster’, uses oral traditions of the kind given below fo fill a gap in ‘the sign of history’. To illustrate how a custodian gives an oral account of their Wali I will present here verbatim one such narrative written down by Zainal Musfofa bin Muhammad Jabidi, a custodian, 1978. In 1970 researchers from Padjadjaran University in Bandung, West Java, witnessed a custodian reciting the same narrative as that written down by Zainal Mustof. (Kossim 1974). When the Padjadjaran University team came to Pamijahan, a custodian was still designated by an older title, panembahan. The present oral narrative was evidently copied by the panembahan’s successor. Zainal Mustofa, an older brother of the current custodian.

To give more comprehensive perception of how villagers recognise the past I will describe this oral account in terms similar to those I employed in my discussion of the Babad Pamijahan. The Babad Pamijahan provided a genealogical framework for the reconciliation of mystical narratives relating to the realms of Sunda and Java. It also connects Shaykh Abdul Muhyi to the Nine Saints of Java (see Rinkes 1911). Tin the oral account, the contemporariness of Muhyi is given more attention. For this purpose, I describe the journey of Shaykh Abdul Muhyi and compare it with this journey as given in the Babad Pamijahan. The comparison produces a clear result: the Babad and the oral account fulfil different functions in the telling of the past. The oral text is segmented according to the main place referred in each unit of the narrative.

THE LIFE OF KANGJENG SYEKH

Unlike Babad Pamijahan oral tradition gives more lively narrative on the relation between the Sunda wali and his Sumateran Sufi Master, Abd al-Rauf. Acording to oral tradition, when Abdul Muhyi was studying Sufism in Mecca, before he established a settlement in the valley of Safarwadi, his master Abd al-Rual al-Singkili order him to meditate in the Safarwadi café. There are a popular recitations about this episode, and the role of custodians is quite important in preserving and transmitting them. A. A. Khaerusalam, a graduatet of Unswagati University in Cirebon and a custodian ath Abdul Muhyi’s tobm wrote down and published what had originallu been a local oral history of the saint under the title Sejarah Perjuangan Shyakh Abdul Muhyi Waliyullah. As summary of the story indicates, the cave is internationalized’ in it, and connected to a wider tradition of Islam.

There is nothing unsulua about custodians of sacred places preserving and transmitting histories in this way. Fox (Fox 2002), in his account of the role of custodian in the graveyard of Brawijaya in Trowulan and The Tombs of Senopati in Mataram Central Java, mentions the important part of juru kunci in broadcasting ‘the history’ of the dead. When the manuscripts, the Babad, are silent about a particular episode, then, the juru kunci fills the gap. He also states that “tombs in Java function as popular ‘broadcast centres’ for the historical traditions of Java, then it is the juru kunci who keep these traditions alive and relevant to contemporary Javanese” (2002: 172).

The custodian in Pamijahan narrates that in the cave of Safarwdi or Guha Pamijahan, Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Jailani obtained ijazah from his master Shaykh Sanusi. Abd al-Qadir al-Jailani (d.1077) is the founder of Qadiriyya born in Jilan. In Sunda the figure is still popular; people always pray for him. His name can not be detached from the majority of Sundanese Muslim practices. In West Java he is known as the Sufi founder who was able to perform miracles even after his is death. Adabuljairin clearly mentions the importance of the influence of Abd al-Qadir,

The cave is also recognised as the place for meditation, or tempat tawajjuh, which connects the cave ‘mystically’ with the great tradition of Sufism. In the golden age of Syattariyah in Sunda, a new novice should perform two days meditation in the cave before he was initiated and took the oath of Syattariyah. This place is also recognised as a meeting place where Kangjeng Shaykh met other saints. This cave, which is 284 metres long and 24.5 wide, has several rooms, which are regarded as “doors.” These doors connect the cave to the centre of pilgrimage in Mecca and to the tombs of other great wali such as Sunan Gunung Jati of Cirebon, Sunan Giri of Surabaya, and Shaykh Maulana Mansur of Banten.

Besides the doors, the cave also has a place for meditation, a place for the holy water, a small natural chamber that is a ‘mosque’ for men and one for women, and the hill of “the haji hat” or Jabal kupiah, the boarding school, or pesantren, kitchen, or dapur, and altars. The cave has a complete room for staying more than a week or even months for devotees who want to perform tawajjuh. According to oral tradition, when Shaykh Yusuf al-Makassri^[22] was sought by the Dutch troops, he fled to the cave and consolidated and launched guerilla operation from this place. Oral tradition states that on Friday from 11 am--2 pm when the cave is closed, villagers believe that Kangjeng Shaykh performs Friday prayer or jumaahan there.

In the cave, visitors first take holy water, or cai zam-zam believed to come from Mecca, and put it in their cans, or jariken. After that, they climb to the masjid. This place is believed to be another masjid karamat where Kangjeng Shaykh Haji Abdul Muhyi used to shalat when he was doing meditation. Visitors often chant azan in the quba. For older visitors, it is difficult to stay in Masjid for long during the peak season because the oxygen is reduced by the hundreds of pilgrims and the nu jajap kaguha who bring push kerosene lamps, or patromak.. However, in the low season, in the month of Ramadhan, this place is very quiet and some visitors prefer to perform tirakat or tapa. For nu ziarah biasa, they stay here for ten minutes. They recite their own doa.

From the mosque, guides take visitors to cai kahuripan and cai kajayaan. These are rivers, which flow in the lowest part of the cave. Pamijahanese believe that anyone who takes a bath in cai kahuripan will be free from disease, and those who take bath in cai kajayaan will succeed in business.

After this, visitors exit from the opposite gate which leads them to Kampung Panyalahan, the second most popular sacred site in Pamijahan. In this village is buried Shaykh Khatib Muwahid. He is not a wali but is a pious man with the title of Shaykh. Shaykh Khatib Muwahid married Kangjeng Shaykh Abdul Muhyi’s sister. Nu nganteur kag guha have an important role since they can suggest whether pilgrims visit Shaykh Khatib Muwahid’s tomb or not. In the peak season nu nganteur kag guha are very busy. Sometimes they do not suggest that people continue their sacred journey to Panyalahan but rather that they return to Pamijahan so that nu nganteur kag guha will have more opportunity to guide other visitors.

The caretaker of Shaykh Khatib Muwahid’s tomb in Panyalahan states that only 15 percent of all pilgrims who come to Pamijahan continue their sacred journey to Panyalahan. Realising this problem, the custodian Panyalahan has provided incentives for nu nganteur kag guha to encourage their clients to continue their visitation by going on to Panyalahan.

The custodian at Panyalahan applies the same system as Pamijahan. The custodian identifies visitors and assigns a staff member to accompany them and perform tawassul at the tomb of Khatib Muwahid. Unlike in Pamijahan, the custodian of Panyalahan is present in his office the full day. They do not need to share with other families as in Pamijahan. He is the sole single care taker.