The White Heron Called by the Muezzin: Shrines, Sufis and Warlords in Early Modern Java
This chapter explores two modalities of Sufi warfare on the Indonesian island of Java; a reputed cosmopolitan one deriving from courts as well as religious scholars and a seemingly localized one centred on shrine polities. The latter indeed proves intrinsically embedded in Java through holy graves and miraculous sites of worship. This does not entail, however, that their armed endeavours were stirred by local concerns only. To the contrary, overseas trade networks and elaborate diplomatic ties shaped the military interventions of shrine polities like that of Giri in East Java and also bolstered their armies. On the other hand, the scripture-based campaigns of ‘holy war’ made by sultanates like that of Banten and scholars like al-Maqassārī, faltered due to their inability to connect to political concerns of the wide range of Islamic polities and actors involved.