Sufi Islam and the nation state: Darul Arkam movement in the post Suharto era of Indonesia

Modernity as a global phenomenon has been the most driving matter, said those scholars of modernity, that potentially threat the existent of tradition and religion. Both would vanish once the project of secularism accomplishes. However, since the global modernity, whether represented by secular state, nation state, and democracy, failed to fulfil its promises, tradition and religions in general have reemerged to be likely a new device employed by their adherents to express their grievances and discontents. In such regard, recent Islamic movements promoting the slogan of “back to the authentic Islam” can be a better example to examine the relationship between modernity and religion. Accordingly, the paper, based on my field research, would discuss the role of religion in modern era as represented by Darul Arkam, an Islamic spiritual maternity or Tarekat (Thar6iqa, Arabic) in Indonesia after the collapse of Suharto’s military regime in 1998. Originally, the movement of Darul Arkam came into being in Malaysia as a spiritually-social-urban Muslim organization. How did its leaders understand Islam in regard to changing social and political situation and how did they combine economic and religious activities will be the main topics of the paper, together with their views on contemporary issues related to Islam and politics after Soeharto era.