Javanese Sufism: When Experience is Superior than Doctrines by Timotius Wibowo

As M. C. Ricklefs (2007, Polarising Javanese Society) points out, the Javanese’s understanding of Sufism was found in their practice of mystic synthesis, which was characterized by three prominent features (p. 5-6). The fist one was a strong sense of Islamic identity. This identity was related to their leading figures, especially the first Sultan of Yogyakarta, Sultan Hamengkubuwana I. He was known as an ascetic since his youth and as being victorious against attacking spirits by reciting the memorized passages of the Qur’an. The second one was the fulfillment of the five pillars of Islamic ritual life: reciting the confession of faith, five-time daily prayers, the giving of alms, fasting in the month of Ramadhan, and the pilgrimage to Mecca. In other words, the practice of Sufism should be done alongside with the practice of Islamic obligations. The third character was acceptance of an array of local spiritual forces. Besides practicing Islamic rituals, they also had many rituals for local spiritual forces. In some cases, these two kinds of rituals were mixed to each other.
It is interesting to observe that such a mixture of scriptural and traditional believes are also found in Christianity, even in our modern era. Many Christians who hold a strong identity of Christianity and being committed to biblical obligations are also believes in the strength of local spirits. It is true that those Christians do no direct rituals for such spirits. However, they have some rituals to deals with these spirits (for examples, burning the goods that suspected as the domains of these spirits, using the Bible or the cross symbol as spiritual protection, or reciting short prayers to protect themselves). They will also give more respect to their Christian leaders who are victorious against these spirits, since they regard them as having a stronger spiritual power. These rituals are certainly unbiblical. Even, they are against biblical teaching, which forbids Christian using of amulets. Although have no grounds of Biblical teaching, these practices are still popular among Christians until nowadays.
Some may reject such syncretic religious practices. However, in Javanese context (and other Eastern people contexts, also), such practices are never die. This phenomenon, in my opinion, proves that personal experience is an important element of religious belief. In many cases, this element is even more influencing to one’s religious behaviour, compared to a systematic religious doctrine