A clash of cultures in Indonesian Islam? Nico Kaptein as a new professor in Leiden

Nico Kaptein is already since more than 30 years busy with Indonesian Islam after his dissertation on the origins of the celebration of maulid, birth of Muhammad. Only recently he was nominated a full professor of Southeast Asian Islam in Leiden. 19 September 2019, he gave his inaugural lecture on the Arabs and their influence on Indonesian Islam. Mecca is the liturgical centre of Islam: the focus of the drection of people praying and once a year the city of the hajj, the great pilgrimage. Since the 17th century it was also a centre for Islamic learning for Indonesians. Sultans sent delegations to the holy city to seek the official title of sulten, or answer to difficult questions. After 1925 (when the Wahhabi King again could establish his capital in Riyad) modernists went to Cairo for studies, but Arabia is still attractive.

 However, after 1980 LIPIA, the Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Islam dan Arab, an institute of study of Islam and Arab, started its spread of Wahhabism (now often called Salafism) in Indonesia. And since then Nahdlatul Ulama and in some sense also Muhammadiyah leaders feel threatened in their position. They even started a counter-attack, stressing that Indonesian Islam is different from Arab culture and even religious interpretation. Kaptein referred to Hasbi Ash-Shiddieqy (who wanted a Mazhab Indonesia) and Abdurrahman Wahid and his ideas of pribumisasi, to support indigenisation of Islam and to prevent further 'infiltration' of Arab Salafism in Indonesia. Arab words like assalam 'alaikum, salat should be avoided and Selamat pagi, sembahyang should be used.
I heard even the term of 'fragmentation of religious authority'. There was little about the longtime differences between Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, that never caused real conflicts, fighting or obstruction in Indonesia.

Among the 30 professors there were three ladies: 10%, showing that Dutch universities are not really pushing feminist ideas! It was a good opportunity to see old friends. Above Herman Beck from Tilburg.