Haj pilgrimage on Mt. Bawakaraeng
Haj pilgrimage on Mt. Bawakaraeng
By Hasanuddin Hamid
UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): Some Muslims believe they do not have to go all the way to Mecca for the haj. They believe they can do it, instead, at the top of the Bawakaraeng mountain.
When the day of wukuf (haj pilgrims gathering on the Arafah plain, Saudi Arabia) approaches, Bawakaraeng residents set up makeshift tents at the foot of the mountain for their own wukuf ritual.
In 1987, 13 such "haj pilgrims" were killed in a cold snap that swept through the Bawakaraeng mountaintop. However, the incident has not affected the people's determination to proceed with the ritual.
The Bawakaraeng peak is 2,871 meters above sea level in Gowa regency. It is local mountain climbers' favorite destination; the temperature there in mid-March is between two degrees Celsius and three degrees Celsius.
In early February, two students climbing the mountains died at the top due to cold weather and a lack of supplies.
According to Daeng Djallo Makkadare, 53, a resident of Parabingtolo village, Gowa, pilgrims will spend the night in tents and try to reach the peaks a day ahead of Idul Adha, the day of sacrifice, which they will celebrate on the mountaintop.
Together with dozens of Muslims from various areas around the mountain, Djallo departed for the mountaintop on March 25 for the Idul Adha celebration which fell on March 28 this year.
"A number of families and I go on pilgrimage to the mountaintop nearly every haj season although we are aware of the death risk due to the difficult route to the top," said Djallo.
For Djallo and a number of other syncretists, the death of 13 fellow pilgrims at the top of Bawakaraeng in 1987 was not ordinary. They believe that the deaths occurred because of the interference of nature and God's messengers there.
According to people living around Bawakaraeng, the pilgrimage here started at the end of the Dutch occupation in the 1940s when the colonial administration restricted haj pilgrimage. Therefore, local residents looked for a substitute for Mecca.
The journey to the mountaintop starts at Parabingtolo village, Tompobulu subdistrict. Believers in the Bawakaraeng pilgrimage have 14 points that they have to pass by during the "haj". The points symbolize acts of worship that pilgrims must carry out in Mecca, including performing thawaf (circumambulating the Kaaba seven times), jumrah (stoning the devil), acknowledging the Black Stone embedded in the wall of the Kaaba (this was done by Prophet Muhammad) while doing thawaf and drinking from the zamzam well near the Kaaba.
A rocky outcrop at the top is considered a replica of the Kaaba, while a well on the slope is equated with zamzam water.
For a sacrifice, they slaughter a chicken that is presented at a place close to the thawaf site.
The pilgrimage starts at station four at an altitude of 2,393 meters above sea level. The pilgrims refer to this station as Babussalam.
At this place, the pilgrims say their prayers and read a mantra for the spirit of Karaeng, the ruler of Bawakaraeng. The pilgrims then form a procession through the rest of the stations as symbolization of the haj pilgrimage.
They celebrate Idul Adha at the top of Bawakaraeng, which they call Kobang'E.
The tradition of Idul Adha prayers and the haj pilgrimage to the top of Bawakaraeng mountain has been handed down for generations by people living in the vicinity of Bawakaraeng and Lompobattang. They are convinced that a pilgrimage here has the same value as a haj in Mecca.
Djallo could not explain the basis of the teaching that allows performing the haj at the top of the mountain.
Harifuddin Cawidu, a teacher of a postgraduate program of Islamic Theology at the Allaudin State Institute of Islamic Studies in Ujungpandang, said the practice is a deviation from the standard Islamic dogma.
He said in Islam, the haj pilgrimage is allowed only in Baitullah, Mecca.
Harifuddin said that in the course of history every religion has its deviations. It is caused by the influence of ancestral beliefs, e.g. animism, dynamism, etc.
The influence is often so strong it is able to bend the standard teaching of a religion. Harifuddin says the extent of the influence varies -- moderate, strong and extremely strong.
A moderate deviation may be acceptable with some reservations but the Bawakaraeng case is unacceptable because the followers acknowledge polytheism, he argued.
Harifuddin said that the Koran does make mention of belief in Al'Aba (ancestors) and that is why some tarekat (orders of mystics) allow the Bawakaraeng sect.
Harifuddin said deviations from the mainstream teaching of a religion are common in villages. In this case, the Indonesian Ulemas Council can do nothing but call on Muslims to stick to the standard teachings.
Neither can the council take action against people who perform their haj on the Bawakaraeng mountain because the authority lies with the prosecutors' office.
Herifuddin rejected theories that the Bawakaraeng pilgrimage is a legacy of Syech Yusuf, the great ulama of Gowa kingdom who lived in the 17th century and died in Capetown, South Africa, while disseminating Islam there.