Ritual Contestation in Contemporary Acehnese Islam

An Ethnography of Fasting and Pilgrimage Practices in Blang Pu’uk, Nagan Raya, Aceh, Indonesia

Abstract

Islamic ritual practices such as fasting and pilgrimage (ḥajj) are normatively codified within Islamic jurisprudence. Nevertheless, these normative frameworks are not uniformly enacted across Muslim societies. This article examines localized and contested religious practices within the Muslim community of Blang Pu’uk Kulu Village, Nagan Raya Regency, Aceh, Indonesia, where fasting is observed without ifṭār and pilgrimage rituals are performed locally within a dayah during the ḥajj season. Employing a qualitative approach grounded in ethnographic observation and in-depth interviews, this study examines the modalities of ritual performance, the sociohistorical conditions that sustain these practices, and their implications for communal religious life. The findings demonstrate that these rituals are embedded within a hereditary religious tradition and are construed by adherents as ascetic disciplines aimed at cultivating spiritual proximity to God, sustaining perpetual repentance, achieving inner serenity, and preparing for death (sakharāt al-mawt). From a normative Islamic legal perspective, these practices provoke substantial doctrinal debate, particularly regarding the absence of ifṭār during fasting and the permissibility of chewing betel leaves during daylight hours to facilitate continuous dhikr. Likewise, the localized enactment of pilgrimage rituals such as circumambulation around a Kaʿbah-like structure and the conferment of the designation “minor ḥajj” constitutes a departure from orthodox Islamic requirements. However, practitioners categorically reject interpretations framing these practices as deviant. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, this article argues that these ritual practices function as embodied religious dispositions reproduced through collective memory and socialization. Despite external accusations of doctrinal deviation, the community’s religious authority and symbolic capital remain intact, enabling the sustained reproduction of these practices across generations.