Dissertation

The unseen saints of Islam: Sufi ritual and religious worldmaking in Java

On Thursday 10 April 2025 Wahyu Widodo successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Author: W. Widodo
Date: 10 April 2025
Links: Leiden Repository

The Unseen Saints of Islam explores the ritual of asking help from God through the Wali Kutub, or the ‘Poles of the Saints’. This ritual is referred to as the Walikutuban. By applying a philology of performance lens, this book delves into two kinds of cultural artefacts: (1) the Book of the Poles of the Saints (Kitab Wali Kutub) from the second half of nineteenth century Java; (2) the Walikutuban ritual, which was revived and has been performed by members of the Nahdhatul Ulama (NU) since the early twenty-first century. By exploring the lingual properties of Kitab Wali Kutub, this book discusses the Sufi paths (tarekats) and colonial political practices as well as Islamic religious practices in the high-colonial period of Java. Furthermore, by studying the performative features of Walikutuban ritual, this book presents the social and political issues which are related to the Walikutuban in present-day Java. By making sense of both artefacts, the book explores how a world is built. Thus, The Unseen Saints of Islam concerns an instance of religious worldmaking, a creation of reality by means of religious artefacts.

Supervisor: Prof.dr. B. Arps
Co-supervisor: Dr. A. van Engelenhoven