This article seeks to examine the rise of _tarekat_ (Sufi order) in the context of the digital public sphere with a special attention to the Eshaykh website. As this article argues, the Eshaykh website represents an adaptation of conventional groups of _tarekat_ combined with information technology. However, this digital adoption raises a new problem, especially related to the differences in terms of access between digital _tarekat_ and conventional _tarekat_. This article—using a virtual ethnographic approach—focuses on the Eshaykh website by the (...) _Tarekat_ Naqsyabandiyah Haqqaniyah (TNH) as the primary source. The website provides all information about the _tarekat_, both the doctrine and the _wirid_, which are presented online. There is also an element of the simplification of orthodoxy which has so far been strictly guarded by conventional _tarekat_, but the rise of the Eshaykh website in the digital public sphere is offering _tarekat_ practices that are easily accessible and reach all levels of society. (shrink)

Tarekat teaches its followers not to glorify conglomerates, to keep their distance from leader, and to live in a way of zuhud, including in the matters of politics. But the Tarekat Qadiriyah wa Naqsyabandiyah in Cukir Jombang was actually involved in practical politics as a supporter of Partai Persatuan Pembangunan. This paper, which was written in the form of ethnographic design according to the concept of the power relations of Foucault to find new perspectives about the actions of Tarekat (...) communities in politics, in this case explaining the pattern of relations that occurred between the Tarekat Cukir and PPP and discovering the factors causing Tarekat Cukir to support PPP. This paper concludes that between Tarekat Cukir and PPP, there is a mutually beneficial pattern of relations in terms of proximity, but in terms of economic politics, the Tarekat Cukir feels disadvantaged. The dominant reason the Tarekat Cukir supports PPP is because of the dependence of Santri on their Mursyid who is a PPP politician. This is reinforced by the history between the two parties and the spiritual ties that connect the teachers who are both PPP politicians and Santris. (shrink)

Sufi group mainly dictates its followers to distance themselves from worldy affairs and to live in religious seclusion. This article offers a distinct perspective on the study of sufism through examining the political activities of the sufi group the Tarekat Qa>diriyah wa Naqsyabandiyah of Cukir in Indonesia and the group’s political patron, the Partai Persatuan Pembangunan. The article benefits form a French philosopher Michel Foucault’s concept of geneology and the notion of knowledge to better comprehend the nature of political (...) activism of a sufi group. It further argues that basic concept of student and master relationship in Sufism is explaining the politics of sufism in contemporary Indonesia. The mutual relation between leaders of the sufi group and the PPP has facilitated the crossing boundaries of Sufi basic principle of non-participatory politics. (shrink)