The Son of the Childless Saint: Oneiric Adoption and Genealogical Authority among Contemporary Indonesian Ḥaḍramīs

• In Event: 327. Beyond Authentication: Genealogical Authority in Colonial and Postcolonial Indonesia. Sponsored by the Indonesia and Timor-Leste Studies Committee (ITLSC)

Abstract

Manṣabate — or saintly dynasty — is an understudied Ḥaḍramī Islamic religious institution in the Ḥaḍramawt and Indonesia, which takes shape when the spiritual authority of a saintly scholar over his congregation is inherited, usually based on agnatic primogeniture. Known as manṣab, the head of a manṣabate leads the congregation, organizes the annual commemoration of the saint, and serves as the custodian of his tomb.

While the manṣabate is a clear example of genealogical authority, verifiable patrilineal genealogy is not the only means of becoming a manṣab. This paper examines the case of Ḥasan b. ʿAlī (d. 2006) of Pekalongan, Central Java, who was recognized as a manṣab due to his dream encounters with the spirit of a childless nineteenth century Ḥaḍramī saint. Through the dreams the saint instructed Ḥasan to look after an old decrepit mosque that he once built in Cirebon, West Java. Ḥasan’s reviving of the mosque in turn allowed him to be recognized as the saint’s successor, laying the foundation of a new manṣabate.

The case of Ḥasan, which is certainly not uncommon, illustrates the need to think beyond dominant forms of genealogical authority and lineal succession, and explore multiple vectors of relationality and authoritative succession of spiritual leadership. Dreams — posited by traditionalist Muslims as sites of creative dialogical exchanges — allow for the formation of a different genealogical authority, one that is based on what I call oneiric adoption, or adoption through dreams. By investigating the intersection of dreams and genealogical authority, this paper explores the plural ways through which genealogy and genealogical authority have been imagined among the Ḥaḍramī diaspora in Indonesia.

Author

• Ismail Fajrie Alatas, New York University