The History of the Influx and the Spreading of Wahabi in Indonesia

There is no exact record about who brought Wahhabism to Indonesia and when it arrived for the very
first time. However, according to the Seven Volumes Edition of Islamic Encyclopedia published by
Ikhtiar Baru Van Hoeve, it is found the story of three Hajjs from West Sumatera: H. Miskin, H. Pialang
and H. Dinamik, who brought Islam to West Sumatera in 1803.

Those three figures might be the people who brought Wahhabism to Indonesia. The overflow and never
ending funding made this tenet spread and penetrated in every aspect of life. They used the education
network through LIPIA (Lembaga Ilmu Pendidikan Islam dan Bahasa Arab / The Islamic Education
and Arabic Language Institution) in Jakarta. Some alumni of batch 1980 became the important figures
on radical Wahhabism spreading. Some of the alumni of LIPIA are Jazid Jawwas, Farid Okbah, and
Jakfar Umar Thalib (the Leader of Laskar Jihad). However, not all of LIPIA alumni are influenced by
Wahhabism.

For the last 30 years, the Wahhabi ruler of Saudi Arabia have spent more than USD 90 billion through
Rabithat al-Alam al-Silami, International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) and other foundations
around the world to defense and build image through global wahhabism. In Indonesia, Rabithat al-Alam
al-islami and IIRO distribute their money through Dewan Dakwah Indonesia (DDII), LIPIA, MMI,
Kompak, and so on.

In the further development, Wahhabism in Indonesia became stronger through Dewan Dakwah
Islamiyah Indonesia (DDII) that was established in 1967. Muhammad Natsir as the founder of this
organization even received an award from the government of Saudi Arabia for his merit on spreading
Islam and fighting against Ahmadiyah and Syiah.

In New Order era, the spread of wahhabism was used to rival the influx of communism. Therefore, the
movement of the wahhabi group were supported by Soeharto. They even got the permit to establish a
foreign educational institution that was very hard to do at that time in Indonesia.

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*New Generation of Wahhabi. *The spread of Wahhabism in Indonesia in the second generation was
done through Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Islam dan Arab (LIPIA). From this institution, new
generation of wahhabi were born. The activity of dauroh and halaqah that were done between lessons
succeeds to attract new potential cadres.

Then, they were sent to Arab Saudi to import their understanding of wahhabism. Before coming back to
Indonesia, some of the cadres did field work in Afghanistan and involved in war in the era of Soviet
invasion during 70s-80s.

This activity is a kind of baptism of fire, a baptism to make them as a wahhabi cadre by involving in the
war. Afterwards, they became the new generation of wahhabi.

Abu Nida, Ahmad Faiz Rafiq, Gufron are the names of the second generation of wahhabi missionaries
in Indonesia. They are the brilliant intellectual actor who posses adequate understanding about Islam.
With the persistence of the second generation, wahhabi could penetrate to several state university in
Indonesia.

The process of wahhabism in Indonesia mainly used the education sector, especially pesantren
(informal Islamic boarding school). Najib Burhani (one of JIL leaders) said that since 1995-2000 many
of wahhabi pesantren have been established in Indonesia. The oldest one is Ihya al-Sunnah in
Yogyakarta.

Usually, wahhabi pesantren (informal Islamic boarding school) is exclusive. They do not socialize with
people around them. It may because they are excluded or they are told to do so.

The teachings that become the focus of the wahhabi pesantren are rejecting the western influence and
kitab kuning (reference book used mainly used by NU pesantren) while the books written by
Muhammad bin Abdul Wahab is the main references in their curriculum. The students have to

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memorize the tauhid book written by Muhammad Abdul Wahab, that is distributed freely by the
government of Saudi Arabia, before the learn other books.

Besides through educational institution, wahhabi also spread through foundation. There are many
foundation affiliated to wahhabi in Indonesia. One of them is As-Shafwah (Al-Sofwa). These
foundations distribute funding for constructing mosques and pesantren.1

With the funding, they have a role on establishing the mosque’s organization (imam, people in the
organizations, etc) or in the curriculum in the pesantren or madrasah (Islamic school) that received the
funding.

That is the process how wahhabism enter Indonesia since 1930s up to now. The basic difference from
the second generation with the previous generation is how those generations face and behave upon their
understanding about wahhabism.

The first generation stopped in admiring wahhabism as a new successful movement in Islamic world,
while the second generation is persistence in living and spreading the teaching to every corner of
Indonesia. Therefore, there are many pesantren and madrasah, but not university, associated with
wahhabism.

On the other hand, social media and other information source such as TV and radio are massively used
by the wahhabi groups as the media to spread their teaching in Indonesia. These media are also funded
by Saudi Arabia through their foundations in Indonesia.

1 In an interview with alumnus of LIPIA that now becomes the member of Al Sofwa Foundation’s management, Jakarta, he
said that the government of Saudi Arabia established LIPA in Jakarta and gives allowance, laptop, and internet to their
students. They are also given scholarship to Madinah University. When they come back home, they are given money to
build Wahhabi pesantren. Pesantren and mosques that got funding from Saudi Arabia should teach wahhabism. If not,
they can take the funding back, even in a form of tiles that had been placed. According to an informant, the wahhabi
ustadz gets IDR 2.5 million as their payment, excluding their fee for addressing sermon. Therefore, many people
interested in wahhabi. There is a member of mailing list that join wahhabi and proudly saying that the ustadz never ask
for fee. It is not a surprise since they already get the payment from Saudi Arabia government.

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Below is the complete list of websites owned by wahhabi groups in Indonesia:

http://www.alsofwah.or.id/
http://muslim.or.id/
http://www.abuayaz.co.cc/
http://abuzuhriy.com/
http://alqiyamah.wordpress.com/
http://pengusahamuslim.com/
http://almanhaj.or.id/
http://ahlulhadiits.wordpress.com/
http://assunnah-qatar.com/
http://salafiyunpad.wordpress.com/
http://www.Salafi.or.id/
http://www.darussalaf.or.id/
http://darussunnah.or.id/
http://almakassari.com/
http://kaahil.wordpress.com/
http://www.mufiidah.net/
http://ekonomisyariat.com/
http://ainuamri.wordpress.com/
http://ahlussunnah.info/
http://www.raudhatulmuhibbin.org/
http://www.daarussunnah.co.nr/
http://Salafiitb.wordpress.com/
http://assunnah.web.id/
http://annaufal.co.cc/
http://quranicaudio.com/

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http://ulamasunnah.wordpress.com/
http://perpustakaan-islam.com/
http://samuderailmu.wordpress.com/
http://www.desasalaf.co.cc/
http://ngaji-online.com/
http://haditsarbain.wordpress.com/
http://badaronline.com/
http://arabindo.co.nr/
http://moslemsunnah.wordpress.com/

Website/Blog by Salafi Wahhabi Ustadz

http://www.kajianislam.net/———— dikelola oleh Ust Abdullah Hadrami

http://rumaysho.com/—————–dikelola oleh Ust Muhammad Abduh
http://firanda.com/——————-dikelola oleh Ust. Firanda Andirja
http://muslimah.or.id/

TV and Streaming Radio managed by Salafi Wahhabi

1. AHSAN TV INDONESIA {channel 11VHF}

http://ahsan.tv/

2. RODJA TV

http://www.rodjatv.com/

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Salafi Wahhabi Online Radio

1. RADIO RODJA ~ 756 AM

Area : Jabodetabek, Cileungsi, and its surrounding
Website http://www.radiorodja.com/
Streaming http://live.radiorodja.com/
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Radio…

2. RADIO HANG FM ~ 106 FM

Area : Batam and its surrounding
Website http://www.hang106.or.id/
Streaming http://radiohang.sytes.net/

3. RADIO ASSUNNAH
Area : Cirebon and its surrounding
Website http://www.radioassunnah.com/

14. RADIO HIDAYAH 103.4 FM – Pekanbaru

http://hidayahfm.com/

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