Paths of Institutionalization, Varying Divisions, and Contested Radicalisms: Comparing Hadhrami Communities on Java and Sulawesi

The article compares Hadhrami communities located in two different parts of Indonesia: Java, Indonesia’s central island, and rather peripheral Central and North Sulawesi. The comparisons generated the following results: in Sulawesi, regulations implemented by the Dutch colonial administration to constrain the mobility of Hadhramis were not as strictly implemented as on Java, which contributed to different settlement and integration patterns on the two islands. This leads the article to another difference in the historical development of the diaspora: in Central and North Sulawesi its institutionalization in Islamic organizations occurred several decades later than on Java. Al-Khairaat, the major Hadhrami organization in Sulawesi, also has a different outlook than its pendants on Java, as it is not only a Hadhrami but also an expanding multiethnic institution. Moreover, while on Java Hadhramis of different groups, that is, mainly those Hadhramis who claim descent from the prophet Muhammad (so-called sada) and those who do not (non-sada), are organized in different institutions that rival each other, in Sulawesi sada and non-sada Hadhramis are united in Al-Khairaat. The article further analyzes these topics of integration into host societies and internal divisions with regard to major ritual activities of Hadhramis. In the context of post-9/11 Indonesia, the article also discusses Hadhramis’ different positions in opposition to and within Islamist radicalism and their engagement in deradicalization and interreligious dialogue. Building on this range of comparisons, the article concludes that Hadhramis in the peripheries of Central and North Sulawesi have obtained a central position in the field of Islam (and also in other societal fields), whereas the communities on Java are much more affected by division and contestation.