Bayan Mosque, witness to the spread of Islam

Bayan Mosque, witness to the spread of Islam

By Wahyuni Kamah

BAYAN VILLAGE, West Nusa Tenggara (JP): Masjid Bayan Beleq as
the locals call is situated in Bayan--a stronghold of Islam Wetu
Telu-of North Lombok, 80 kilometers from Mataram. The mosque is
about 20-meter walking from the main road of Bayan. It is
surrounded by beautiful green landscape and is located by a hill.

At a first glance, the Muslims would not think it is a mosque.
The first peculiar think about this mosque is there is no water
nearby the mosque (for obligatory washing before the prayer) and
the mosque looks like an old, wooden, simple house.

It is only about 8m by 8m and all of its building material is
bamboo and wood. Its roof is pyramidal and has two layers. The
plaited-coconut blade roof is sharply sloped and hangs only one
meter from the ground. On the very top of the roof, a protruding
bud, which symbolizes the oneness of God, erects.

"The mosque was renovated in 1982. Before that, it was much
worse than what you see now," Pak Pala, the mosque caretaker,
said.

"You may not enter," he exclaimed as I was about to go into
the mosque. "One has to wear traditional Bayan outfit to be
allowed to enter the mosque," Pak Pala, 30, a Bayan native,
explained.

This outfit, sapu puteq, characteristic of Wetu Telu, is white
head cloth that is worn by Wetu Telu kiai (religious scholar).

I could only crane my head through the only 1.20 meter-high
plaited bamboo entrance door. It was dim inside the dirt-floored
mosque. Four wooden pillars support the roof in the center. There
is a bedug drum hanging on the roof. There was no lamp and the
scent of old woods hovers in the air.

There is no speaker's platform, which is usually found in
ordinary mosques. Wooden carved fish and coconut are seen hang on
the ceiling inside the mosque. There is also wooden carved dragon
seated on two supporting woods. The dragon, Pak Pala said,
symbolizes the power of a kingdom.

Unlike other mosques, the Bayan mosque that was built in 1634
has different use from ordinary mosque. Only on occasions like
Idul Fitri (celebration the end of Ramadan fasting month), Maulid
Nabi (Prophet's Muhammad birthday) and Ramadan (Moslem's fasting
month), the mosque is open, Pak Pala said. Since 1993, the mosque
has been a cultural preservation protected by the law.

The Islam of Sasak, natives of Lombok, is classified into two
categories Wetu Telu (traditional Sasak) and Waktu Lima (strongly
Islamic Sasak). The practices of Wetu Telu are not only inspired
by local culture but also by Hinduism, Buddhism and animism.
According to the legends, Bayan and Sembalun, two of the oldest
villages in Lombok, were founded by a prince of Majapahit, the
greatest Buddhist Empire in Indonesia Archipelago in the 12th
century. A manuscript founded in Pemenang village of Tanjung
regency, North Lombok, wrote that Gajah Mada, prime minister of
Majapahit, visited Bayan in 1331.

Islam was propagated in Lombok between 16th and 17th century
after Majapahit had been destroyed and Java kingdoms fell under
the power of Islam kings.

Sunan Prapen, son of Susuhunan Ratu of Giri from Java was
assigned by his father to propagate Islam in Lombok and Sumbawa
in a military expedition in the first half of 16th century as
described in a palm leaf manuscript of Babad Lombok. Sunan Prapen
was very attentive in propagating Islam taking into account that
the local people already adhered to other religions. In another
leaf manuscript, it is told the first to convert to the new
religion is the King of Bayan.

In the book Lombok Pulau Perawan(Lombok, the Virgin Island)
written by Solichin Salam, Sunan Prapen taught the Islamic laws
particularly to the kiai and penghulu (village chiefs) first.
These Islam propagators that had not completely finished teaching
Islam then left Bayan. Their followers were very loyal and did
not want to deviate from what the teachers taught them.

After the propagators had left, the people's belief was in
transformation period from Hinduism to Islam (syncretism). And
it has continued until now.

The second wave of Islam propagation was brought by people
from Makassar, Bugis and Buton (in South Sulawesi). These
propagators strictly implemented Islam. Islam Waktu Lima may be
related to the second wave of this Islamization.

According to Wetu Telu believers, death does not imply a
definite parting, the souls of the dead may have left for another
world and they can return to this world whenever necessary. They
also believe that human beings cannot be separated from three
(telu) processes (wetu), namely giving birth, laying eggs and
growing. These processes are symbolized by creatures
consecutively fish, bird, and coconut. These carved wooden
creatures are hanged on the ceiling inside the mosque.

However, the birds are gone now. The Wetu Telu believers
removed and hid them in a secret place when Waktu Lima Sasaks
wanted to mob the Bayan mosque in the late 1960s. The Waktu Lima
Muslims thought the birds were creatures and should not be kept
in the mosque.

Wetu Telu believers also use their own old calendar system
that does not match with Islamic calendar. Therefore, Idul Fitri,
the celebration after one-month fasting on Ramadan (Islamic
calendar) is celebrated three days later by them. The Maulid Nabi
is celebrated on 12 Rabiul Awal (Islamic calendar) by many
Moslems but the Wetu Telu Sasaks celebrate it on 15 Rabiul Awal,
three days afterwards.

"There is peresean show in the yard of the mosque on Maulid
celebration," Pak Pala said. Peresean is like a fighting between
two fighters using rattan stick and shield and is mediated by a
referral. "In such an occasion, it is like a party here," he
added.

In Wetu Telu, the obligatory sessions, such as fasting on
Ramadan and five-session daily prayers are only committed by kiai
and penghulu. However, these kiai and penghulu only perform
three-session daily prayers. The ordinary Wetu Telu Sasaks do not
fast on Ramadan. The kiais fast only on the first, the middle and
the last day of Ramadan.

Therefore, Waktu Lima Muslims view Wetu Telu as Muslims that
commit only three pillars of Islam (credo, prayers and fasting),
instead of five; performing three sessions of daily prayers and
fasting only three days in the whole Ramadan.

The discussion about existence of Wetu Telu continues.
According to Faturrahman Zakaria, a witness of Wetu Telu history
and a member of West Nusatenggara House of Representative as
well, Wetu Telu Sasak is a group of traditional people that still
adhere to their ritual belief.

It is not a sort of religion. The existence of Wetu Telu, he
added, is not only in North Lombok but also in Central and East
Lombok. Pak Pala said me the majority of Bayan people that follow
Wetu Telu are farmers.

On the yard near the mosque, some stones are buried on the
ground. Pak Pala said they are the graves of first Islam
believers in Bayan.

There is a house by the entrance that displays photos of the
mosque before it was renovated.