Indonesian people pay more attention to the traditions of their ancestors; in this case, for example, is the grave pilgrimage. Today, it’s common knowledge that some groups do not like and consider the pilgrimage to the grave as an un-Islamic heresy. Therefore, there are efforts to prohibit the pilgrimage of tombs for various reasons and arguments used. The prohibition is to use the name of the institution or religion. It is incomplete if it is not given a verse from the Koran or the hadith of Kanjeng Nabi Muhammad SAW.
Even so, it’s a collective necessity as a Javanese society to constantly guard, maintain, and practice the cultural heritage of their ancestors that does not contradict the substance of Islamic teachings. Of course, the nature of tolerance and respect in interpreting diversity is a universal necessity that we cannot avoid.
Surprisingly, a group that doesn’t like actions labelled with cynical terms, TBC (that stands for Tabayun, Bidah, and C[k]hufarat), among which is the grave pilgrimage to the tombs of the Wali Songo. But, of course, we know Wali Songo is a nickname for saints who struggled to spread Islamic teachings in the archipelago in the 15th and 16th centuries.
In this context, they always ask where the argument is, where the verse is, and where is the authentic hadith. They tend to worship the text rather than the context in understanding religion. Well, such a condition cannot be left alone without any tabayun (clarification) with one another. The concept of Wali Songo for those who forbid the pilgrimage to the guardian’s grave is still absurd and ambiguous. Therefore, it seems reasonable when the mukhatab is the general public who still needs to be showered with Islamic values both from the doctrinal and muamalah sides.
As a native, I called it Wali Songo. The word is more familiar than the title wali nine. The term Wali Songo is associated with a group of broadcasters or religious propagators in Java who lives in holiness so that they have high inner strengths, are knowledgeable and have extraordinary supernatural powers, have jaya-kawajiyan knowledge, and are sacred.
It would be no exaggeration if Prof. Dr Simuh said that the number nine is magical in Java and does not come from the santri culture. Prof. Simuh’s view is closely related to the cosmology of the Hindu Javanese people, who believe that the universe is governed and protected by the gods guarding the winds.
The existence of Wali Songo as a saint or holy person is also closely related to the archipelago. However, the embellishment of Islam Nusantara only reached its peak when Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) used the congress theme with Islam Nusantara as the grand theme of the congress, which took place in Jombang in 2019.