Bayan Mosque, witness to the spread of Islam<\/p>\n
By Wahyuni Kamah<\/p>\n
BAYAN VILLAGE, West Nusa Tenggara (JP): Masjid Bayan Beleq as
\nthe locals call is situated in Bayan--a stronghold of Islam Wetu
\nTelu-of North Lombok, 80 kilometers from Mataram. The mosque is
\nabout 20-meter walking from the main road of Bayan. It is
\nsurrounded by beautiful green landscape and is located by a hill.<\/p>\n
At a first glance, the Muslims would not think it is a mosque.
\nThe first peculiar think about this mosque is there is no water
\nnearby the mosque (for obligatory washing before the prayer) and
\nthe mosque looks like an old, wooden, simple house.<\/p>\n
It is only about 8m by 8m and all of its building material is
\nbamboo and wood. Its roof is pyramidal and has two layers. The
\nplaited-coconut blade roof is sharply sloped and hangs only one
\nmeter from the ground. On the very top of the roof, a protruding
\nbud, which symbolizes the oneness of God, erects.<\/p>\n
\"The mosque was renovated in 1982. Before that, it was much
\nworse than what you see now,\" Pak Pala, the mosque caretaker,
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"You may not enter,\" he exclaimed as I was about to go into
\nthe mosque. \"One has to wear traditional Bayan outfit to be
\nallowed to enter the mosque,\" Pak Pala, 30, a Bayan native,
\nexplained.<\/p>\n
This outfit, sapu puteq, characteristic of Wetu Telu, is white
\nhead cloth that is worn by Wetu Telu kiai (religious scholar).<\/p>\n
I could only crane my head through the only 1.20 meter-high
\nplaited bamboo entrance door. It was dim inside the dirt-floored
\nmosque. Four wooden pillars support the roof in the center. There
\nis a bedug drum hanging on the roof. There was no lamp and the
\nscent of old woods hovers in the air.<\/p>\n
There is no speaker's platform, which is usually found in
\nordinary mosques. Wooden carved fish and coconut are seen hang on
\nthe ceiling inside the mosque. There is also wooden carved dragon
\nseated on two supporting woods. The dragon, Pak Pala said,
\nsymbolizes the power of a kingdom.<\/p>\n
Unlike other mosques, the Bayan mosque that was built in 1634
\nhas different use from ordinary mosque. Only on occasions like
\nIdul Fitri (celebration the end of Ramadan fasting month), Maulid
\nNabi (Prophet's Muhammad birthday) and Ramadan (Moslem's fasting
\nmonth), the mosque is open, Pak Pala said. Since 1993, the mosque
\nhas been a cultural preservation protected by the law.<\/p>\n
The Islam of Sasak, natives of Lombok, is classified into two
\ncategories Wetu Telu (traditional Sasak) and Waktu Lima (strongly
\nIslamic Sasak). The practices of Wetu Telu are not only inspired
\nby local culture but also by Hinduism, Buddhism and animism.
\nAccording to the legends, Bayan and Sembalun, two of the oldest
\nvillages in Lombok, were founded by a prince of Majapahit, the
\ngreatest Buddhist Empire in Indonesia Archipelago in the 12th
\ncentury. A manuscript founded in Pemenang village of Tanjung
\nregency, North Lombok, wrote that Gajah Mada, prime minister of
\nMajapahit, visited Bayan in 1331.<\/p>\n
Islam was propagated in Lombok between 16th and 17th century
\nafter Majapahit had been destroyed and Java kingdoms fell under
\nthe power of Islam kings.<\/p>\n
Sunan Prapen, son of Susuhunan Ratu of Giri from Java was
\nassigned by his father to propagate Islam in Lombok and Sumbawa
\nin a military expedition in the first half of 16th century as
\ndescribed in a palm leaf manuscript of Babad Lombok. Sunan Prapen
\nwas very attentive in propagating Islam taking into account that
\nthe local people already adhered to other religions. In another
\nleaf manuscript, it is told the first to convert to the new
\nreligion is the King of Bayan.<\/p>\n
In the book Lombok Pulau Perawan(Lombok, the Virgin Island)
\nwritten by Solichin Salam, Sunan Prapen taught the Islamic laws
\nparticularly to the kiai and penghulu (village chiefs) first.
\nThese Islam propagators that had not completely finished teaching
\nIslam then left Bayan. Their followers were very loyal and did
\nnot want to deviate from what the teachers taught them.<\/p>\n
After the propagators had left, the people's belief was in
\ntransformation period from Hinduism to Islam (syncretism). And
\nit has continued until now.<\/p>\n
The second wave of Islam propagation was brought by people
\nfrom Makassar, Bugis and Buton (in South Sulawesi). These
\npropagators strictly implemented Islam. Islam Waktu Lima may be
\nrelated to the second wave of this Islamization.<\/p>\n
According to Wetu Telu believers, death does not imply a
\ndefinite parting, the souls of the dead may have left for another
\nworld and they can return to this world whenever necessary. They
\nalso believe that human beings cannot be separated from three
\n(telu) processes (wetu), namely giving birth, laying eggs and
\ngrowing. These processes are symbolized by creatures
\nconsecutively fish, bird, and coconut. These carved wooden
\ncreatures are hanged on the ceiling inside the mosque.<\/p>\n
However, the birds are gone now. The Wetu Telu believers
\nremoved and hid them in a secret place when Waktu Lima Sasaks
\nwanted to mob the Bayan mosque in the late 1960s. The Waktu Lima
\nMuslims thought the birds were creatures and should not be kept
\nin the mosque.<\/p>\n
Wetu Telu believers also use their own old calendar system
\nthat does not match with Islamic calendar. Therefore, Idul Fitri,
\nthe celebration after one-month fasting on Ramadan (Islamic
\ncalendar) is celebrated three days later by them. The Maulid Nabi
\nis celebrated on 12 Rabiul Awal (Islamic calendar) by many
\nMoslems but the Wetu Telu Sasaks celebrate it on 15 Rabiul Awal,
\nthree days afterwards.<\/p>\n
\"There is peresean show in the yard of the mosque on Maulid
\ncelebration,\" Pak Pala said. Peresean is like a fighting between
\ntwo fighters using rattan stick and shield and is mediated by a
\nreferral. \"In such an occasion, it is like a party here,\" he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
In Wetu Telu, the obligatory sessions, such as fasting on
\nRamadan and five-session daily prayers are only committed by kiai
\nand penghulu. However, these kiai and penghulu only perform
\nthree-session daily prayers. The ordinary Wetu Telu Sasaks do not
\nfast on Ramadan. The kiais fast only on the first, the middle and
\nthe last day of Ramadan.<\/p>\n
Therefore, Waktu Lima Muslims view Wetu Telu as Muslims that
\ncommit only three pillars of Islam (credo, prayers and fasting),
\ninstead of five; performing three sessions of daily prayers and
\nfasting only three days in the whole Ramadan.<\/p>\n
The discussion about existence of Wetu Telu continues.
\nAccording to Faturrahman Zakaria, a witness of Wetu Telu history
\nand a member of West Nusatenggara House of Representative as
\nwell, Wetu Telu Sasak is a group of traditional people that still
\nadhere to their ritual belief.<\/p>\n
It is not a sort of religion. The existence of Wetu Telu, he
\nadded, is not only in North Lombok but also in Central and East
\nLombok. Pak Pala said me the majority of Bayan people that follow
\nWetu Telu are farmers.<\/p>\n
On the yard near the mosque, some stones are buried on the
\nground. Pak Pala said they are the graves of first Islam
\nbelievers in Bayan.<\/p>\n
There is a house by the entrance that displays photos of the
\nmosque before it was renovated.<\/p>",
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