Tasawwuf and The Value of Peaceful

According to Martin Van Bruinessen, an expert of Islam from Holland, the Islamic development in Indonesia couldn’t be separated from influence of Tasawwuf (1995). It showed from tarekat role in spreading and management of Ummah since 14 century until before Indonesian independent. In this era, tasawwuf represented throw tarekat movement. It is not only in outskirts of Islamic culture, but also in the culture’s center such in Mecca and Medina.

The Fresh Wind of al-Ghazali
Even thought Tasawwuf, as a discipline of science has been known since the beginning of Islamic development-around 8th centuries-but the influences can be felt after Imam al-Ghazali (in 12 centuries). He brings the fresh wind for Tasawwuf development in Islamic world. Ihya ‘Ulum ad-Din is his composing that becomes the Ulama reading. It is because the book gives the answer about the man’s issues especially the existence’s problem. Beside, there are another books that dealing with tasawwuf such as Bidayat al-Hidayah, Maraq al-‘Ubudiyah, Minhaj al-‘Abidin and etc. Even Bruinessen found that in the beginning of 20th century the book written by Abdul Karim al-Jilli and Ibn Arabi (al-Insan al-Kamil and Futuhat al-Makkiyah) become the compulsory reading in Pesantren curriculum in West Java and Surabaya (1995: 46). The two books are tasawwuf composing that difficult to be understood and Bruissen enter it in tasawwuf falsafi.


It shows that the Islamic development is influenced by tasawwuf. The appearing some tarekat in Indonesia is also the role of tasawwuf. But how far the role of tasawwuf in growing the values of peaceful? Different with Ilm al-Kalam or Theology which is talking about the faith rationality, Tasawwuf invite the man to realize about them selves. By knowing our self would create the policy about life and the existence’s purpose. Tasawwuf developed from self-worries about life. For example Imam al-Ghazali, he is a theologian and philosopher that feel “spiritual flaming” that support him to muse about the existence’s problems. Finally the musing create Ihya ‘Ulum ad-Din.

The life’s problem faced by Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah, the woman Sufism that born as slave support her to become God’s lover. So far, the human’s experience about love is only to create the charged. For example the parents’ love, even thought it valued as true love with any competition, but it still create an authority. The parent would be sad if their children leave them. For that reason, in its love teaching, Adawiyah teach to subjugate the desire to authorize. Basically, love is to free some one, create the secure and harmony life. Conflict and war describes that so far love is just creating the authority and shackling.

Tasawwuf invite us to return to the mind zero. It becomes the happiness’ key. For Sufism, the desire is the power that able to torment the man. The willingness is desire that not dealing with primary need. The willingness is a support to get satisfaction. For that reason, if desire has authorize the human they would face the mentally conflict, light in the heart injured (Nurcholish Madjid, 2000). The greedy appear from dark mental.

Back to the mind zero means stopping the mental war. The ability to defeat desire would create the happiness. In tasawwuf teaching, the man’s happiness depends on their close to Allah SWT. The such teaching has colored the Islamic development in Indonesia. The Islamic development in Indonesia in 13th centuries until hundred years later more oriented to a muse toward problem of human existence, how the man see the life, its correlation with nature and another creature. We hope the Islamic development correlated with rearranging of peaceful and the harmony life in society. (CMM/rd).