4 Dissertationen und Habilita- tionen / Dissertations and Habilitations

DISSERTATIONEN DISSERTATIONS
Titel „Jihad @ Web“ im Südwestdeutschen Verlag für
Hochschulschriften erschienen (2 Bde.). Eine englische
Zusammenfassung des Analyseteils der Dissertation
liefert der Fachartikel „Counting Lives in a Theater
of Terror – an Analysis of Media-oriented Hostage
Takings in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi
Arabia.“ Erschienen in: Perspectives on Terrorism,
Bd. 4, H. 5, S. 3-21. URL: www.terrorismanalysts.
com/pt/articles/issues/PTv4i5.pdf.
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Asfa Widiyanto: Ritual and Leadership in the
Subud Brotherhood and the Tariqa Qadiriyya wa
Naqshbandiyya. – Abgeschlossene Dissertation am
Institut für Orient- und Asienwissenchaften an der
Rheinischen-Friedrich-Wilhelm Universität Bonn,
Betreuer: Prof. Dr. Stephan Conermann und Prof. Dr.
Eva Orthmann.
Sufism or Islamic mysticism has been an inextricable
part of Indonesian tradition since the outset of Islamisation
in the country. The interplays between Islamic
mystical tradition and Javanese values are among the
most salient processes in Indonesia. This intricate
process, which sometimes contains conflicts, has
played a part in moulding the nature of Javanese mysticism.
The presence of Islam in Java therefore deserves
investigation. One publication asserts that Java
provides a fascinating illustration of the reception of
Islam outside the Arabian Peninsula, for it is a place
where the universal message of Islam has to intermingle
with long-lasting local traditions.
Dirk Campbell provides a general account of Sufism
and the Subud Brotherhood. In his article, he pays
considerable attention to the dispute concerning the
link between the two, in particular employing the
thesis of Idries Shah and Ann Bancroft (which supposes
that the Subud Brotherhood is a Sufi derivative)
as a starting-point. He contrasts the standpoint of Shah
with the claim of the Subud Brotherhood that this
brotherhood is a new mode of spiritual transformation
which has nothing to do with any existing mystical
and religious institution.
Campbell stresses that although there are affinities
between the teaching and practice of the Subud Brotherhood
and those of Sufism, and there were contacts
between the founder of the Subud Brotherhood and
the Naqshbandi master, it is not easy to ascertain
whether the Subud Brotherhood is a Sufi spin-off.
Campbell’s discussion on the question of linkage
between the Subud Brotherhood and the Sufi brotherhood
triggered the author’s interest and curiosity to
examine the notion of ritual and leadership in these
two brotherhoods.
The present study focuses on two spiritual organisations:
the Tariqa Qadiriyya wa Naqshbandiyya (TQN)
and the Subud Brotherhood. The TQN, a spiritual
movement developed mainly by the Kalimantan
scholar Ahmad Khatib ibn ‘Abd al-Ghaffar Sambas
(1803-1875), is rooted in Islamic mystical tradition,
whereas the Subud Brotherhood, which was founded
by the Javanese personage Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo
(1901-1987), has developed within the
realm of Javanese mystical ideas.
The first section of this book deals with the nature of
ritual and specifically addresses the following issues:
(a) How do the adherents of the Subud Brotherhood
and the TQN practise their respective rituals? (b)
What are the ideas and concepts underlying these
rituals? (c) What are the affinities and differences
between the rituals of the Subud Brotherhood and
those of the TQN?
The second part of the book delves into the nature of
leadership and addresses the following questions: (a)
How has the notion of leadership developed within the
Subud Brotherhood and the TQN? (b) What are the
rituals, ideas and traditions which shape and sustain
the notion of leadership in the Subud Brotherhood and
the TQN? (c) What are the similarities and dissimilarities
between the notion of leadership in the Subud
Brotherhood and that in the TQN? This section also
provides a portrait of female leadership in the Subud
Brotherhood and the TQN, as well as the ideas and
principles which support and hinder the tradition of
assigning females an office in the respective brotherhoods.
An exposition of the nature of ritual and leadership
in these two spiritual organisations will allow us to
gain a more comprehensive picture of these organisations
and will provide the readers with a notion of the
interplay between the normative aspects of these fraternities
and their socio-cultural contexts, as well as
the interplay between the variety of doctrines and
elements within the fraternities themselves.
This doctoral thesis will appear as a monograph in
EB-Verlag Berlin under the title “Ritual and Leadership
in the Subud Brotherhood and the Tariqa Qadiriyya
wa Naqshbandiyya”, in the series “Bonner
Islamstudien”.
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