Ulumuna

231-258

Authors: Jajang A. Rohmana

The spread of Islam in the Archipelago was closely tied to the roles of Sufi ulama. The circulation of Sufi work in Nusantara proves a strong connection between this region and the Middle East. In West Java, a number of these work expose Sufi teachings in the form of Sundanese Sufi literature, such as the work by Haji Hasan Mustafa. He is considered the greatest Sundanese poet whose work features strong influences of wahdat al-wujud. This paper aims to examine Sundanese Sufism expressed in Mustafa’s work of Asmarandana Ngagurit Kaburu Burit. This study shows that this work contains Sufi’s path that explores the self and its encounters with Supreme Being and the self’s diffusion, where there is no longer existence except the One. Mustafa called his Sufi poetry imperfect suluk because it was written in late afternoon. His work reveals local Sufi accommodation to wah}dat al-wujud in Sundanese language and culture.

275-302

Authors: Ade Fakih Kurniawan

This article aims to examine the wujūdiyyah teaching of ‘Abd al-Lāh bin ‘Abd al-Qahhār al-Bantanī in his Mashāhid al-Nāsik fī Maqāmāt al-Sālik. Although he was a great ulama in the period of Sultan Abū al-Na╣r ‘Ārif Shifā’ Zayn al-‘Āshiqīn—the ruler of Banten Sultanate in the eighteenth century—his name was rarely mentioned in the history of Banten. The Sultan asked him to write a book on wujūdiyyah that especially deals with tajalliyāt. The polemics over wujūdiyyah in Banten is different from those of Aceh. In Banten, there is no information whether the Sultan banned or considered the adherents of wujūdiyyah teaching as infidel (unbeliever). Regarding tajalliyāt, al-Bantani explains it in relation to the tajallī phases of God over the realm that he divides into four: ‘ālam ilāhī, ‘ālam jabarūt, ‘ālam malakūt and ‘ālam nāsūt. His concept about these worlds is different from al-Burhanpurī’s Martabat Tujuh and from those of H{amzah Fan╣ūrī, al-Jīlī as well as Ibn ‘Arabī.

323-346

Authors: Munawir Haris

Human beings are mysterious. Although various studies about humans have been conducted, they fail to totally comprehend them. Therefore, studies about humans are always interesting topics, especially if they attempt to reveal non-physical aspects of humans. One way to look at this neglected aspect is to study spiritual dimensions of humans. Base on their explorations to the Qur’an and hadith, Muslim scholars propose a theory of three cosmos: macrocosmos, microcosmos and metacosmos. Macrocosmos represents the Universe. Microcosmos is human beings and metacosmos is concerned with Allah. These are three cosmologies that Muslims have to find from the scriptural texts so they can understand the central role of human beings in preserving balanced relationships among these three worlds. The Qur’an, for example, gives allegories and signs that Muslims must explore their deep meanings to gain wisdom and get closer to the Creator.

359-386

Authors: Sulaiman Al-Kumayi

This article examines the concept of shakh-i manevi and hizmet that are introduced by contemporary Turk Sufi ulama Muhammad Fethullah Gulen. Through this concept, Gulen attempts to encourage personal spirituality to transform gradually into collective personality. By this he means that this process should involve relevant parts of sufi teaching and integrate them directly into a community. This effort envisions a prototype of idealized community that hizmet should uphold. In this community, the followers of his movement work hand in hand to offer social services to the people regardless of their backgrounds.

421-440

Authors: Lalu Supriadi

Al-Gazālī plays an important role in purifying Sufism and directing it into the right path of Islam. Prior to his time, many people misunderstood Sufism. While some of them were concerned only with sufi theories but lost its practices, some others simply practiced Sufism without sufficient knowledge. In his time, where splits of religious sects and disintegration spread among Muslims, he emerged to offer his notion that integrates Sufi concepts of intuition, knowledge and spiritual path to achieve the highest objective of happiness. He himself reached these sufi paths through several stages in his life and spirituality. Meanwhile Ibn Taymiyya acknowledges the validity of experimental sufi but encourages a method of external examination, namely the basic teachings of Islam, to examine the validity of Sufism. According to him, Sufism is a form of religious expressions that must be built on the Qur’an and Sunna and has to refer to the practices of the Companions.

1-18

Authors: Ismail Fahmi Arrauf

Philosophizing by philosophers is logical, independent, systematic, radical, and universal thinking on anything. Researchers have long been interested in investigating Islamic Philosophy, as a branch of science that develops later and commonly known as one rooted from Greece. This paper then aims at investigating the extent Islamic Philosophy interconnects with Greek Philosophy as well as their differences. Methods employed at this research are identifying Qur’an verses on Philosophy, and enriching them to reviews of related literature. Important findings are Islamic Philosophy is mainly derived from Qur’an values, its interconnectedness with Greek Philosophy does not mean it is integrated, and apart from different views on Philosophy, arguments where Qur’an reveals values of Philosophy is highlighted.

41-64

Authors: Anwar Mujahidin

Modern science dominated by idealism, rationalism, and empiricism has brought an acute humanity crisis. At the epistemology level, religion provides knowledge which guarantees human values, beyond ration and empirical findings. This paper aims at exploring texts of al-Qur’an as a source of knowledge. The methodology construction starts from seeing it as a paradigm-placing the holy text as an open corpus critically analyzed from linguistics, literary, and historical points of views.

97-126

Authors: Masdar Hilmy

This paper analyses how inductive paradigm has been misperceived and mistreated by Muslims, and discusses the extent to which the inductive paradigm and the deductive one has long been competing to one another throughout the development of science in Islam. This paper argues that the backwardness of Muslim civilization is due to the fact that the inductive paradigm has long been neglected and has been misperceived by Muslim scientists as a Western type entity which should be deconstructed and, therefore, should be put aside. This attitude stems from the Muslims’ attitude towards the Qur’an and Hadith as direct sources of modern science, scientific corpuses from which modern theories of sciences emanate. In order to achieve an advancement of science, Muslims do not have any choice other than treating the inductive paradigm properly as an epistemological as well as methodological apparatus in developing sciences either natural sciences, social humanities and religious as well as Islamic studies.

153-190

Authors: Lalu Muchsin Effendi

Islamic Epistemology has long been a centre of Islamic Scholars’ debate. It is apparent in the discourse disputes among mutakallimūn, philosophers, and sufis as well as traditionalists versus modernists. This research hence tries to reveal Abdul Halim Mahmud’s thought which analyzes Tasawuf epistemological system. Preceded by comparative studies, this research focuses on identifying the essence of Tasawuf based on Abdul Halim Mahmud’s analysis. Findings of the research include Qur’an and Hadith become sources of Islamic teachings on Tasawuf epistemological system. Also, God blessing through the process of mushāhadah dan mukāshafah is able to solve metaphysical problems and hence becomes a source of intuitive based knowledge.

213-230

Authors: Asep Kurniawan

Human beings are the only creature whose capability of knowledge enabling them to develop. However, this could be hampered by the wrong epistemology understanding based on a religion they believe. This research aims to encourage human thought to be dynamically progressive without jeopardizing values of Qur’an. This is carried out through placing the Islamic epistemology on the autonomy of ration and empirical experiences and conducting dialectical process between them and Al-Qur’an. Conclusions derived are that human knowledge can develop dynamically and progressively in line with the spirit of the Qur’an. It automatically has an impact on the development of holistic human resources. In this context, Islamic epistemology then is the main drive for the development of human resources.