Discourse of Fiqh and Sufism Scholars: a Story of Indonesian Islamic Intellectual History

Abstract

Indonesia is one of the countries with the largest Muslims in the world, which has a long history of developing religious discourse, both in the studies of kalam, Islamic law and even in Sufism which is epistemologically included as part of the study of philosophy. One of the things that are very interesting from the whole piece of history is the controversy between fiqh scholars and sufism scholars, with two different bases of view. Fiqh scholars look more at the dimensions of sharia truths, which are regulated indefinite and measurable legal rules, while tasawuf scholars look at the dimensions of essence that have exceeded the limits of sharia truth. the academic discourse between Sufi scholars and Fiqh scholars occurred during the Islamic era of Demak, mainly due to two interrelated factors, firstly, regarding the different parameters of truth between the philosophical Sufism embraced by Syaekh Siti Jenar, and the shari'ah views adopted by The Nine Saints, represented by Sunan Bonang, Sunan Kalijogo, and Sunan Kudus, as well as two other Demak figures, namely Prince Modang and Sunan Geseng. It is feared that it will cause internal divisions within the palace. The history of Islamic intellectuality in Indonesia has been going on for a very long time, since civilization developed in the days of the Islamic kingdoms in the Middle Ages, both the work of Aceh Darussalam which was centered in Aceh, and the kingdoms of Demak and Pajang which were centered in Java. The same phenomenon also occurred in Aceh, with the emergence of Hamzah Fansuri, a great scholar in the 15th century AD.