SANTRI AND ABANGAN AFTER A HALF CENTURY OF CLIFFORD GEERTZ

This research paper analyzes the religious phenomenon of culture in Modjokuto or Pare, where Geertz carried out his thesis on the "Religion of Java." Although there are many pesantrens in Modjokuto, there is still a religious tradition associated with Kejawen as a local belief, particularly among rural Muslim farmers. Javanese mysticism, however, plays an important part in muslim abangan. Some rural villages in Modjokuto, both NU and Muhammadiyah, are not very distinct in religious tradition. They have performed slametan, tahlilan, and ziarah as religious rituals. Kejawen's teachings are more observed by traditionalist Moslems in Modjokuto, who commonly refer to abangan as the categorization of Islam in Java. Some claim that abangan refers to the proletarian class and former followers or founders of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Some also said that Islam abangan means adherents of the teachings of Sunan Kalijaga, Syech Siti Jenar, and all the descendants of Sufi masters. In addition, we cannot argue that since the reformation of Indonesia, Islam in Java has changed and has gone forward in a number of ways. As a result, this research paper is trying to explore Islam abangan and its resurgence in detail. I recognize that the resurgence of Islam abangan in Java is somehow intended to address the increasing radicalism and Islamic sectarian. Using an anthropological approach, this research paper attempts to explore what Geertz examined in the "Religion of Java" after a half-century, which needs to be reexamined in the context of contemporary Indonesia.

The three dichotomies on "Religion in Java" "santri, priyayi and abangan" have always contributed to countless debates from the past half century to the present 3 .
Unfortunately, in his fieldwork, Geertz did not have much interest in exploring in depth the position of modernist Islamic groups such as Muhammadiyah in Modjokuto, which they have been forming since 1933. "modernist" Muslims in Modjokuto have also succeeded in encouraging education, such as the Muhammadiyah Islamic Madrasah (MIM) Schools, which were established in 1950 and are still more developed nowadays. Maybe Geertz had only a thorough explanation why he did not pay any attention to the "modernist" Islamic classes in his research. Apparently, he chose to use the word priyayi as another "face" of nobles who hold Islamic values by combining elements of Hinduism with Javanese ancient traditions.
Many, however, said that Geertz's thoughts were more inspired by his key informants and his close friend during the fieldwork in Modjokuto, a prominent religious teacher in the village, or a kampung, where he was a Gontor's pesantren alumni who successfully pioneered "English Village" (kampung inggris). He is a Muslim scholar who has learned tens of foreign languages. In summary, from the genealogy of Geertz's ideas on Islam in Java, this research paper is intended to re-examine the dichotomy of abangan in Modjokuto and how the religious activity of abangan deals with modernization and globalization. I think that after Indonesia's constitutional court accepted indigenous beliefs in November 2017, it seems abangan is more revivaled than diminishing today.
This qualitative research is focused on a socio-anthropological methodology that focuses on ethnographic approaches in which author engage in group day-to-day practices and include specific informants and respondents as resource evidence 4 . In addition to ethnography, this research is related to historical literature by archives and documents. Data gathering methods from studies and interviews include religious figures, scholars, practitioners, social workers, etc. as influential sources. The tools and opportunities of individuals are dependent on disparities in age, ethnicity, religious background, history, social and economic status.
The study of the data gathered from fieldwork relies not just on the critical text and meaning, but also on the sociological approach to the local population 5 As a tool for understanding current social phenomena in society from a philosophical and psychological point of view, particularly from a social and historical point of view. Many scholars suggest that, in order to apply these approaches, researchers need to consider the meaning, not based on the subjectivity but objectivity of the researcher 6 . The rationale for using phenomenology as an alternative method for analyzing and researching human existence in the study of abangan in Modjokuto.

Redefinition of the Abangan
According to Geertz, abangan was associated with the identity of poor and subordinate Javanese citizens, especially farmers and laborers. Although Post-Geertzian has various abangan opinions. It was discussed in the post-Geertz studies on Islam in Java 7 , many accepted that the word abangan had modified in terms of context. Islam abangan is a pattern of syncretism and assimilation of a kejaw combined with Hinduism and Buddhism.
Post Geertzian observed abangan is a specific model of Islamisation or dakwah in Java.
During Sukarno, the word abangan indicated proletarians and supporters of the PKI (Indonesian Communist Party). The dichotomy of abangan contributes to an ambivalence of interpretation, particularly after the collapse of the New Order regime. Nowadays, abangan has become a belilef system among villagers in Modjokuto, both the middle class and the lower class of society.
However, Geertz's study of abangan is often understood as individuals who do not obey the Islamic laws or shariah and the customs of santri. Hefner argued that abangan was a non-standard Islam 8 . "In some abangan communities, a few of the spiritis of heaven and earth might have 'Hindu' names, but these figures were drawn from Javanese epics and shadow plays, not a formalized tradition of Hindu knowledge. Abangan also performed rituals of a less normatively Islamic cast, including a variety of household, village, and curing rites" 9 . Some kiyai or ulema from Salaf pesantren in Modjokuto say that abangan is part of the sufism taught by Syech Siti Jenar. Abangan can be seen as a critique of the bureaucratic aspects of the structure and power relations within the pesantren and feudal society. Abangan can be related to the hierarchical system of santri and priyayi as a counter-part of the Javanese Throughout mysticism (Sufism) which epistemologically means Islamic practices it leads to purify soul and mind of human beings to achieve the truth in hakikat and makrifat 10 .
In this context, Sufism is synchronized with abangan, although Geertz's view in his dichotomy of santri, priyayi and abangan in Java that according to Hodgson point of views, tends to be influenced by Muslim modernist thinkers. Hodgson analyzed a sharp and critical arguments on the category of Islam in Java regarding the concept of polytheism. Hodgson emphasized that the term "abangan" is seen out of Islamic norms and shariah. Hodgson criticized Geertz's ideas that more accepted the definition of modernist group about the term "shirk" when he categoeized abangan. 11 The social and religious dichotomy in Modjokuto reveals that Geertz's understanding of the two divisions of santri and abangan applies to the character of traditionalist Muslim communities, while priyayi is more Islamic and Hindu syncretism with Muslims across the palaces 12 .
Unlike Geertz, Koentjaraningrat argued that Geertz's ideas of Java religions are the most important works in Indonesian studies, but Geertz has shortcomings in the study of Javanese culture from a variety of aspects such as the religious structure, Javanese theology and mysticism that cannot be understood by non-Javanese people. 13 In contrast to Geertz, Koentjaraningrat prefered using the term "Agami Jawi and Santri Islamic Agami".
"The Javanese variant of the Islamic religion called 'Agami Jawi or Kejawen' is a multiple Hindu-Buddhist, and its ideas appear to be supernatural, and is mixed into one body of the belief system and is known as an Islamic religion. 'Kejawen' religion culture structure is taught through oral tradition, but there are significant sections in the process of Islamization in Java that show historical traces of holy and moral literature." 14 Different from Koentjaraningrat, the term abangan is defined by Ricklefs on his publication of "The birth of the term abangan" 15 saying that "abangan" was firstly raised by Dutch Christians, Hoezoo in 1855. Ricklef argued that "abangan" means profane people 16 .
Likewise, the abangan groups are people who keep ritual meals or slametan, but are not slamet or protected, since they do not completely follow Islamic laws or shariah. Later, the word abangan has been more grounded after Clifford Geertz published his thesis on Modjokuto. Ricklef also argued in his study that abangan is not only common to Muslims, but also to other religious groups, such as Christian culture.
The binary opposition of abangan is putihan identified as santri or people affiliated with pesantren following the Islamic laws and shariah. According to Harthoorn, abangan and putihan are phenomena which emerge in response to the spread of Islamic revivalism 17 . This group was quite strategically built since the disparities between the abangan and the putihan in the Dutch colonial era contributed to the separation of the social and economic classes of the Javanese society. Ricklefs stressed abangan vis-à-vis putihan, where two Christian missionaries from the Netherlands, Heozoo and Ganswijk, misread the comprehension of abangan and putihan of the Javanese culture. Ricklefs also did not explicitly accuse the distribution of abangan and putihan, since the Dutch missionaries in the 1800s told them they were in the vicinity of Semarang, Kediri and Malang. It was a major error, according to Ricklef, to infer the difference between abangan and putihan. Categories of putihan and abangan were very popular among the people of Javanese at that time 18 . The word abangan and putihan is like a "myth" created by Dutch missionaries to form the Javanese culture in order to increase economic and political influence. Meanwhile, according to Sapardi Djoko Damono (1989), the abangan itself has etymologically distinct interpretations from the viewpoint of Javanese culture as follows: "According to Javanese oral tales, the term abangan is believed to come from the Arabic word "aba'an." The Javanese language reads the letter 'ain to be 'ngain.' The meaning of the words is more or less "inconsistent" or "those who leave." Hence, ulema used to assign nickname to people who convert Islam but do not follow Shari'a (Javanese: sarengat) is aba'an, which is called "abangan". So, the word "abang" here is not from the Javanese word "abang" which means red, but from the Arabic word "aba'an"."  supported Geertz's ideas regarding with the three dychotomies of Religion in Java (santri,

priyayi, and abangan). Religious pattern of farmers is abangan while the opponent is in the
priyayi. The rich class of traders and peasants in Javanese society are generally classified as santri. 20 Santri and abangan are religious and social patern to classify Javanese society based on social and economic classes. The literal meaning of santri is "students in religious schools" although in contemporary discourse the term santri refers to the people who uphold shariah-centered interpretation of Islam that Ricklefs defined as mystic synthesis in Java 21 .
Santri are those who practice the five pillars of Islam (Sholat, Hajj, zakat, etc.) while abangan is people who rejected Islam's pillars but they still practice communal meals or slametan and sometimes they also practice tahlil like santri. However, since reformation the definition of abangan and santri are changing especially the term abangan has shifted in wider space and social class 22 . The definition of abangan nowadays can not only be seen as social category of rural farmers but we can also find 'abangan' in urban communities.

Abangan, NU, and Pesantren
The inhabitants of abangan and kejawen have a close relationship with NU (Nahdlatul Farmers who used to be part of the Union of Indonesian Farmers (BTI/Buruh Tani Indonesia) and sugar factory workers are very strong with abangan and kejawen. It's unusual to see santri working in businesses or factories. The sugar factory in Ngadirejo used ceremonial rituals to connect sugar production activities to "mystical power" and this practice is for the purpose of good production. People believe that the sacred "rites" that such rituals have been performed since the factory was first built. One of the rituals is Giling Manten, which is planned to preserve the fertility of sugarcane land and the sustainability of sugar production. The practice of Giling Manten as a local heritage has been active since the (3). Tawasut and I 'tidal which mean fair and right attitudes to avoid bad deeds (4). Amar ma'ruf nahi munkar, which means promoting positive deeds in order to discourage acts that weaken the ideals of life. These four ideals of dakwah are the national, spiritual and religious capital of the United States. In fact, the dakwah model of NU being more embraced by abangan and kejawen is also seen as an obstacle to missionary "Islamic purity" that avoids the local custom of Javanese culture such as ziarah, khaul, slametan, etc 25 . While santri was the opposite of abangan and kejawen before the tragedy of 1965, the abangan and kejawen in Modjokuto ramain were "symbiotic mutualism" Many abangans and kejawen sent their children to pesantren to study. with shamanic practices and go to 'sacred sites' to search 'wealth' or pesugihan and 'supernatural powers' or ilmu kesaktian. Shamanic practices are seen by abangan and kejawen as a sacred legacy that is also problematic with a pesantren tradition.
Besides shamanic rituals, tarekat as a mystical movement through pesantren is also popular with abangan and kejawen, followed by older people over 50 years of age, most of whom are farmers and traders. Martin van Bruinessen claimed that tarekat was a Sufi group under the guidance of a Sheik who extended his teachings to his disciples. Tarekat is also meant as a path taken by a Sufi candidate to attain ma'rifat. Sheik Yusup Makassari (1623-1699) was the first person to bring this prayer to Indonesia. Its distribution ranges from Makasar, Kalimantan, Sumatra, Central Java and East Java 28 . Assimilation, acculturation, syncretism, are indeed as key success story in the spread of religion in Java.

C. CONCLUSION
Speaking of the religious life of society in Modjokuto, it reveals that Islam and kejawen are well maintained as a belief system. The Mystic Synthesis of the Javanese Culture is emerging in Mataraman areas such as Madiun, Kediri and the Brantas River valley. 29 Back in the political situation before 1965, residents in this small town were religiously and economically difficult to identify. Santri and abangan were politically engaged with NU and PKI/Partai Komunis Indonesia (Indonesian Communist Party) but some were still loyal to Masjumi, while priyayi appeared to support the PNI (Indonesia Nationalist Party). 30 Due to the unstable political climate in the late 1950s and the 1960s, there was a religious polarization in the framework of society. Religion and politics were starting to happen at the time. What is happening now, most of the people known as an abangan after the catastrophe of 1965 became more religious. Much of the abangan now follows local