Islam wetu telu or wetu telu Muslims? : an analysis of the practitioners’ perspective

Abstract

The century-old polarisation of Wetu Telu Versus Waktu Lima appeared to be restricting the progress in the study of Sasak Muslims in Lombok. This divide-and-conquer framework from the Dutch Colonial era disregarded the indigenous’ perspective, and the evolutions in their spiritual dimensions. Moreover, the Wetu Telu legacy was threatened by a growing trend to homogenise Muslims and eliminate their unique elements of identity and culture. Hence, this qualitative research undertook the descriptive phenomenology analysis to examine the adherents’ viewpoint. It adopted a religio-cultural interdisciplinary approach, and analysed the findings within the combined fields of Islamic anthropology, cultural anthropology, phenomenology of religion, and Eurocentrism historiography. The present study unveiled a Tawhid-driven community with a deep-rooted relationship between religion and Adat. Some of the followers recognised Wetu Telu as a Muslim tradition, while others deemed it a variant of Islam. The term Wetu Telu emerged during the reign of Kedatuan Bayan from the 14th century and has endured misinterpretations for several centuries. The results also triggered an epistemological discord with the established body of knowledge. It revealed variations in the adherents’ religious practices, and introduced Adat advocates who complied fully with the Five Pillars of Islam. This thesis generated an indigenous-inspired foundation, and aimed to pave the way towards providing a more balanced portrayal of faith for the community. It contributed to the on-going social science discourse on Muslim identity, heterogeneity, religious freedom, and religious literacy.