The Diaspora of the Sufis in Indonesia: Moving From Western to Eastern Islands

Abstract

Sufis in Indonesia spread their ideology across the Indonesian Islands through trading, marriages, and Sufism teaching. They came to Indonesia through Sumatra Islands and then spread to other Islands in the west to the eastern part of Indonesia. However, the Sufism diaspora in Indonesia is limited to known, particularly the well-known Sufis and their roles in each island. Their origin and roles have also long been in debate due to a lack of documented resources. Through the historiography method, we studied the origin and the diaspora of Sufis in Indonesia islands in Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and Maluku islands and their roles in spreading Sufism in those islands. We found that number of well-known Sufis from Middles East came to Indonesia through Sumatera Islands around the sixth century. From Sumatera island, they spread to other islands in the eastern part of Indonesia. We suspect that all of them taught Sufism to Muslim communities in all islands trading and marriage interaction. A number of artifacts which are resembled West Sumatra artifacts can be found in Java, Sulawesi, and Maluku islands. That evidence proves that the Sufis have contributed significantly to religious and social development in Indonesia.

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